SBI Holdings has concluded a “Strategic Capital and Business Alliance Agreement” with TOHOKU BANK. Having completed the repayment of public funds for SBI Shinsei Bank, the group is now free to resume its regional banking rollup strategy in order to create the "fourth mega bank". Purpose of the
Seven Bank agreed with ITOCHU Corporation, majority owner of Family Mart, on the commencement of capital and business alliance discussions including collaboration in a wide range of financial areas. Leveraging its domestic and international business foundation with strengths in the consumer sector, ITOCHU develops new services and businesses by capturing
Leading global fintech AND Global, today announced it has raised $21.4 million USD in a Series B funding round led by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of The World Bank Group, and AEON Financial Service, a leading Japanese financial group active in 11 Asian markets. Other investors
A new partnership between specialist venture capital firm Uncovered Fund and corporate VC Monex Ventures highlights increasing Japanese investment in Africa's technology landscape. The two have launched the "Uncovered Monex Africa Investment Partnership," a ¥3 billion (around $20 million) fund targeting early-stage startups in Africa and
DigiFT, a licensed exchange purpose-built for institutional-grade, tokenized real-world assets (RWAs), has raised a total of US$25 million to date—following the close of a new strategic funding round. The latest round was led by SBI Holdings, Japan’s largest financial group, with participation from leading institutional investors including
Leading financial services software firm Finastra has gone live with the Loan IQ platform at the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). This project aims to modernize JICA's core system for private-sector investment finance, an increasingly expanding initiative that provides loans to private sector projects in developing countries. The
Welcome to the one hundred twenty-fifth edition of the Japan FinTech Observer. Chaos, chaos, everywhere! The subway line to the Osaka Expo 2025 broke down, leaving thousands of people stranded late into the night. McDonald's offered a Pokemon promotion, leading to piles of "Happy Meals" discarded
TRUSTART, which supports DX transformation of users' real estate-related operations through proprietary real estate big data collection, has raised 1 billion yen through third-party allotment to HIRAC FUND (MoneyForward Venture Partners), Daiwa Corporate Investment, Mitsubishi UFJ Capital, Japan Venture Capital, Asia Air Survey, Iwagin Future Investment, GMO VenturePartners, mint,
The Japan Securities Dealers Association has been holding a "Roundtable Meeting on the Supply of Growth Funds to Startup Companies and Other Entities" to consider issues regarding the trading system for unlisted shares based on the needs of market participants, and the FSA has been participating in this
The Financial Services Agency (FSA) held a series of meetings with Japan's financial industry associations, outlining its key priorities and concerns. The discussions reveal a strong focus on enhancing governance, strengthening cybersecurity, and ensuring customer-centric operations across the entire financial system. I. Common Points Raised Across Associations Several
Mesh, the leading crypto payments network, today announced additional investments from PayPal Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, Uphold, Mirana Ventures (venture partner for ByBit), SBI Investment, Overlook Ventures, Kingsway Capital, Moderne Ventures and CE-Ventures, bringing total capital funding to more than $130 million. This support positions the company to accelerate its impact
Welcome to the one hundred twenty-fourth edition of the Japan FinTech Observer. The TOPIX reached a record high on August 8, 2025, hitting 3038.84 points during the regular session and closing at 3024.21. This was the first time TOPIX has broken 3000 points in its history. It closed