MUFG Bank and MUFG Innovation Partners Invest in LayerX
MUFG Bank and MUFG Innovation Partners (MUIP), both consolidated subsidiaries of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG), have made an investment in LayerX, a startup focused on equipping society with AI-centered software. MUFG Bank also signed a strategic partnership memorandum of understanding with LayerX to further deepen their collaborative relationship.
MUIP’s investment, through the MUFG Innovation Partners No. 3 Investment Limited Partnership, is a follow-on investment after participation in LayerX’s Series A round in 2023.
LayerX develops and operates services such as the AI cloud service “Bakuraku” for streamlining back-office operations, and the AI platform “Ai Workforce” that improves operational efficiency and data utilization in enterprises and government. Under the leadership of CEO Yoshinori Fukushima and CTO Yuki Matsumoto, LayerX, with its mission of digitizing all economic activities, is one of the companies that are leveraging their strong technical capabilities and implementation power to drive the use of AI in Japan’s corporate sector to pursue.
In 2024, MUFG Bank and LayerX began a business alliance in business spend management, offering Bakuraku to MUFG Bank’s corporate clients and gradually integrating MUFG’s services with LayerX’s Bakuraku product suite. Collaborations between MUFG Bank and LayerX are progressing in a variety of areas, demonstrated, for example, by MUFG Bank’s adoption of Ai Workforce as a foundation for its AI-based business transformation to accelerate internal knowledge sharing.
MUFG Bank aims to evolve into an AI-native organization by integrating people with AI, in line with MUFG’s commitment to empowering a brighter future. MUFG Bank signed the strategic partnership memorandum of understanding alongside the investment in recognition of LayerX as a key partner in realizing this vision.
Through this strengthened partnership, MUFG Bank and LayerX will continue to provide high-value-added services to customers and contribute to improving productivity across Japan with the use of generative AI. MUFG will also continue to promote collaboration with LayerX.
Norbert Gehrke
