Japan FinTech Observer #116

Welcome to the one hundred sixteenth edition of the Japan FinTech Observer.

We are back, and so is the Bank of Japan, with their June Monetary Policy Meeting. While a change in the policy rate is not expected, the Bank will update its plan for JGB purchases starting in April 2026.

Otherwise, it has been a busy policy week: Regional Revitalization 2.0, the Revised New Form of Capitalism Realization Plan 2025, and the Basic Policy on Economic and Fiscal Management and Reform 2025 were all approved by the government.

Here is what we are going to cover this week:

• Venture Capital & Private Markets: Everimpact, the climate tech company building the world’s first real-time greenhouse gas (GHG) data network, has secured strategic investment from Mitsubishi UFJ Capital; Incubate Fund Asia Invests in Stride Green's Seed Round: vlimate-tech startup Stride Green is focused on asset financing and lifecycle management for sustainable businesses; Sumitomo Life Invests in EverEx, a Korean startup that develops AI-powered personalized digital therapeutics; Daikin Industries has invested in Asuene; SBI Ven Capital Invests EUR 1m in Colossus Digital's Seed Round, the investment was made through SBI Ven Capital’s joint fund with Sygnum Bank and Azimut Group; Money Forward backs digital corporate services provider Sleek's USD 23m Series B
• Insurance: Capgemini and Dai-ichi Life Holdings have signed a multi-year agreement to establish a Global Capability Center (GCC) in India
• Banking: Mizuho is said to be on cusp of buying Indian investment bank Avendus; Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) has obtained approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to commence preparations to open a branch at Bengaluru; MUFG shares its Open Innovation Vision; Sakana AI has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) regarding strategic collaboration that combines AI technology with regional finance expertise with Hokkoku Financial Holdings
• Payments: EVONET has launched a cross-border mobile wallet interoperability service in partnership with KDDI Corporation and Tenpay Payment Technology; GMO Financial Gate, the offline payments company under the GMO Internet Group, has moved from the Growth to the Prime Market
• Capital Markets: Sakana AI takes on financial statement analysis
• Asset Management: JAMP Fund Management, a subsidiary of Japan Asset Management Platform, has launched its ETF white-label service in the Japanese market; gumi to Establish a Fund for Listed Crypto Asset Management
• Digital Assets: FSA Allows Automated Market Maker in Sandbox Testing; Securitize Supports PPIH Group's Digital Bond Issuance; "Soneium For All" Incubator Launched; Ripple is providing grants to fund projects that are being built with the XRP Ledger in Japan
• The Last Word: Creating Startup Ecosystem Value

Venture Capital & Private Markets

• According to S&P Global, the value of private equity- and venture capital-backed investments in Japan totaled $14.28 billion between January 1 and May 27, up from the $2.7 billion recorded during the first five months of 2024; deal value is on track to surpass the full-year 2024 total of $18.85 billion well before year-end; US-based private equity and venture capital firms are leading the charge, having made $12.97 billion in investments in Japanese companies this year through May 27
• Everimpact, the climate tech company building the world’s first real-time greenhouse gas (GHG) data network, has secured strategic investment from EIT Urban Mobility and Mitsubishi UFJ Capital, the venture capital arm of Japan’s largest financial group; the investment will accelerate Everimpact’s commercial rollout of its certified carbon tracking system—the only solution capable of directly measuring CO₂ emissions at the source across urban environments, ports, forests, and ships
• Incubate Fund Asia Invests in Stride Green's Seed Round: Climate-tech startup Stride Green, focused on asset financing and lifecycle management for sustainable businesses, has raised US$3.5 million in a seed funding round, led by Bengaluru-based Micelio Technology Fund and Incubate Fund Asia, alongside participation from other investors; Gurgaon-based Stride Green provides financing to electric vehicles (EVs), solar panels, charging stations, etc. It also directly leases EVs and other assets to businesses across e-commerce and logistics companies
• Sumitomo Life Invests in EverEx: Sumitomo Life has made an investment in EverEx through its CVC fund "SUMISEI INNOVATION FUND", operated by SBI Investment; EverEx is a Korean startup that develops AI-powered personalized digital therapeutics for patients with musculoskeletal disorders affecting the knees, lower back, neck, and shoulders, based on the concept of "realizing a world where everyone can receive individualized rehabilitation anytime, anywhere"
• Daikin Industries has invested in Asuene, a startup company providing services to measure and reduce CO2 emissions, and to support decarbonization and ESG management, by underwriting a capital increase through a third-party allocation of shares; through this collaboration, the two companies will combine Asuene’s services with Daikin’s energy-saving HVAC equipment and energy management systems to deliver circular decarbonization solutions to global markets focusing on North America and Japan
• SBI Ven Capital Invests EUR 1m in Colossus Digital's Seed Round: the investment was made through SBI Ven Capital’s joint fund with Sygnum Bank and Azimut Group, which aims to accelerate the rollout of Colossus Digital’s Institutional Hub, a two-sided B2B marketplace, that connects regulated custodians with top-tier validators for staking and governance
• Digital corporate services provider Sleek has secured US$23 million in a Series B funding round led by Australian investment firm Ellerston Capital, with additional backing from SaaS company Money Forward; founded in 2017, Sleek offers a suite of digital solutions, including company incorporation, accounting, payroll, and tax compliance, tailored for SMEs; the platform currently supports over 16,000 SMEs annually across Singapore, Hong Kong, the UK, and Australia; the fresh capital will be used to advance Sleek’s automation-driven technology and broaden its digital service offerings

New Funds

• Geodesic Capital, a venture capital firm focused on strategic technology investments to bridge Silicon Valley and Japan, announced the completion of initial fundraising of $250 million (approximately ¥38.7 billion) for its new fund "Geodesic Alliance Fund"; this fund represents an unprecedented venture fund aimed at advancing the US-Japan alliance through investments in technologies that promote national security, economic resilience, and cross-border innovation
• Ares Management Corporation, a leading global alternative investment manager, has completed the final close of Japan DC Partners I LP, marking Ares’ first vehicle dedicated to data center investment and development; with approximately US$2.4 billion (¥350 billion) in total equity commitments, the Fund positions Ares to be one of the largest data center investors in Japan with significant capital to meet the rapidly growing demand from cloud and artificial intelligence applications

Not FinTech

• Mitsubishi Estate has bought a majority stake in European private equity property fund manager Patron Capital, the latest sign of Japanese investment washing into the United Kingdom; the Tokyo-based group’s investment management business, Mitsubishi Estate Global Partners, is acquiring the stake from Patron’s management led by founder Keith Breslauer; the deal will see Mitsubishi commit about €600 million (¥99.5 billion) of equity to Patron’s funds to help it build out new strategies including its nascent credit business
• Kigen, a global leader in eSIM and pioneer of integrated SIM (iSIM) security solutions, has received a strategic investment from SBI Group, one of Japan's largest financial services and investment groups; this latest investment joins existing backers Arm Holdings and SoftBank Vision Fund 2, marking a significant milestone in Kigen's mission to make cellular technology more accessible for device makers and secure for all

Insurance

• Capgemini and Dai-ichi Life Holdings have signed a multi-year agreement to establish a Global Capability Center (GCC) in India; Dai-ichi Life Group’s goal is to significantly strengthen its in-house digital capabilities and technology platforms, driving innovation and operational efficiency on a global scale; this strategic collaboration with Capgemini, which initially spans Japan, the United States, and Australia, will leverage a broad spectrum of the GCC’s digital capabilities including advanced software development, infrastructure modernization, AI & data solutions, and robust cybersecurity measures

Banking

• Japan's Mizuho is said to be on cusp of buying Indian investment bank Avendus: Mizuho Financial Group is nearing a deal to acquire a majority stake in Avendus Capital, potentially valuing the Indian investment bank at $800 million; this move follows a trend of Japanese banks expanding into India, exemplified by SMBC Group's recent investment in YES BANK; Mizuho aims to leverage Avendus' expertise to strengthen its dealmaking presence in the burgeoning Indian market
• Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) has obtained approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to commence preparations to open a branch at Bengaluru, India; the Japanese megabank said that it will undertake the necessary steps to open a branch, subject to approval of Japanese regulatory authorities; this is SMBC’s fifth branch in the country; its New Delhi branch first opened doors in March 2013, whilst its latest branch at Gift City began servicing customers in July 2024
• MUFG’s Open Innovation Vision: Co-Creation between Japan’s Corporates and Startups; Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) has launched a bold new tagline in the startup space: "Let’s amaze the world by innovation" - a statement that reflects Japan’s growing momentum toward economic and societal transformation through collaboration between large corporations and startups
• Sakana AI has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) regarding strategic collaboration that combines AI technology with regional finance expertise with Hokkoku Financial Holdings, a regional financial group; through this partnership, by combining Hokkoku FHD's expertise in regional finance and extensive experience as a pioneer among regional banks in introducing advanced initiatives including digitalization, with Sakana AI's cutting-edge AI technology, the partners aim to demonstrate a leading model for AI implementation in the regional finance sector

Payments

• EVONET has launched a cross-border mobile wallet interoperability service in partnership with KDDI Corporation and Tenpay Payment Technology; in the first phase of this initiative, more than 1.4 billion WeChat users from China can make payments by WeChat Pay (Weixin Pay) at au PAY-affiliated stores across Japan by simply scanning the QR codes installed at the stores (MPM method: Merchant-Presented Mode); this enables inbound travelers from China to enjoy a seamless payment experience across Japan using their familiar WeChat app, without worrying about language or currency barriers
• GMO Financial Gate, the offline payments company under the GMO Internet Group, has moved from the Growth to the Prime Market of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, having surpassed JPY 2.5bn in aggregate profits over the past two fiscal years

Capital Markets

• Nomura has published its quarterly "Individual Investor Survey" for June 2025
• The latest paper from Sakana AI - EDINET-Bench: Evaluating LLMs on Complex Financial Tasks using Japanese Financial Statements; financial analysis presents complex challenges that could leverage large language model (LLM) capabilities; however, the scarcity of challenging financial datasets, particularly for Japanese financial data, impedes academic innovation in financial analytics; to address this gap, the authors introduce EDINET-Bench, an open-source Japanese financial benchmark designed to evaluate the performance of LLMs on challenging financial tasks including accounting fraud detection, earnings forecasting, and industry prediction

Asset Management

• JAMP Fund Management, a subsidiary of Japan Asset Management Platform, has launched its ETF white-label service in the Japanese market, positioning the company to capitalize on growing demand for innovative asset management solutions; the ETF white-label service delivers comprehensive middle and back-office capabilities for Exchange-Traded Fund operations, designed to drive market expansion on the Tokyo Stock Exchange and enhance operational efficiency across Japan’s asset management industry
• gumi to Establish a Fund for Listed Crypto Asset Management: gumi has resolved, at its Board of Directors meeting, to establish a fund for the joint management of listed crypto assets with SBI Holdings; in 2022, gumi entered a capital and business alliance with the SBI Group. Working with SBI, gC Labs, gumi's strategic subsidiary for blockchain operations, has devised crypto-asset management strategies within its node-operation business
• Goldman Sachs' CIO service suddenly catches on in Japan after 10 years: it took more than a decade of trying, but Goldman Sachs last year landed the first client for its business of helping institutions manage their money in Japan; a second pension signed up in early 2025; now about 10 more potential customers are in the pipeline, according to Kenro Tsutsumi, head of Goldman Sachs Asset Management Japan

Digital Assets

• FSA Allows Automated Market Maker in Sandbox Testing: this proof-of-concept experiment will verify the provision of services using AMM (Automated Market Maker) functionality to customers who hold addresses (and associated wallets) that demonstrate completion of Know Your Customer (KYC) procedures by financial institutions, using tokens that simulate cryptocurrencies; the experiment will also verify risk reduction measures related to money laundering and terrorist financing
• Securitize Supports PPIH Group's Digital Bond Issuance: Securitize Japan, which provides a security token (ST)/digital securities issuance and lifecycle management platform, announces that the Securitize Platform has been adopted for the security token bonds (digital bonds) planned to be issued by Pan Pacific International Holdings (PPIH), which operates the comprehensive discount store "Don Quijote," mall-type shopping center "Apita," and general supermarket "Piago" within its group; the move is notable as few large companies outside the financial and technology sectors have issued digital bonds; PPIH’s initiative targets its young customer base directly
• "Soneium For All" Incubator Launched: Building on our momentum of over 100 live dApps on Soneium, 7 million wallets, and up to 1.5 million transactions per day, Soneium is partnering with Astar Network and Startale Cloud Services to launch its new developer program focused on Consumer & Gaming; Soneium For All offers access to Soneium’s growing ecosystem and helps solve the key challenges facing blockchain developers: funding, user acquisition, and technical implementation
• Ripple is providing as much as $200,000 in grants to project participants to fund projects that are being built with the XRP Ledger (XRPL) in Japan

The Last Word: Creating Startup Ecosystem Value

Startup Genome has launched its Global Startup Ecosystem Report on June 12 at VivaTech Paris in collaboration with Global Entrepreneurship Network. While we typically examine the rankings closely, this time the above chart stuck out, showing Tokyo as one of only four startup ecosystems that has increased its value over the past year, based on the Startup Genome methodology. Remarkable!

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