corporate venture capital
Payment infrastructure startup Mylapay has secured $1 million in a fresh capital injection, fortifying its balance sheet ahead of a planned Series A fundraise. The bridge round saw follow-on commitments from existing investors CDM Capital and Credit Saison, while Pratekk Agarwaal’s GrowthCap Ventures joined the cap table as a
Weekly
Happy New Year! Welcome to the one hundred forty-fifth edition of the Japan FinTech Observer. Japan's Minister of Finance, Satsuki Katayama, rang the bell at the Tokyo Stock Exchange to open the new trading year today. We are pleased to announce the "Product of the Year 2025&
Weekly
Welcome to the one hundred forty-fourth edition of the Japan FinTech Observer. The last full work week of the year brought a couple of significant deals (Amova, SMBC), a few new industry associations (the Business Invoice Payment Services Association, or BIPSA, the Japan Digital Decentralized Finance Association, or JDFA, and
Weekly
Welcome to the one hundred forty-third edition of the Japan FinTech Observer. We have done it! Not only is the Bank of Japan the only major central bank to raise its policy rate this year, it has done so twice. Well done, Ueda-san & team, leading us further down the
venture capital
SBI Holdings has taken the role of lead investor in the Series A funding round for Saladin Consulting and Technology, a technology startup based in Vietnam. This investment was executed through the SBI-NTU-Kyobo Digital Innovation Fund, a Singapore-based fund managed by the SBI Group. The funding round also attracted participation
Weekly
Welcome to the one hundred forty-second edition of the Japan FinTech Observer. The week commencing December 15 will very much be the last week of significant business activity for the calendar year. The Diet will have its last session, and the Bank of Japan will raise the policy rate to
IPO
FUNDINNO went public on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Growth Segment on December 5, 2025, at the top of the indicated range from JPY 600 to 620. After reaching a high of JPY 935 during the first day of trading, the stock has since settled in around the JPY 800 mark,
Weekly
Welcome to the one hundred forty-first edition of the Japan FinTech Observer. Last week, we were delighted to participate in the "ICT & FinTech Mission to Tallinn" this past week, courtesy of EIS | Enterprise Estonia. As we are settling down back home, we are iteratively reporting on the
venture capital
In order to further revitalize the startup ecosystem, it is important for each entity involved in funding startups to share a common understanding of the direction the ecosystem should aim for, further strengthen funding for startups, support their growth, and ensure that the benefits are reaped by each entity involved.
security token
Nomura Holdings, Nomura Asset Management, Nomura Trust and Banking, and BOOSTRY have completed issuance procedures for the “Nomura Private Series B Dash Fund 5 Tokenized VC Fund (Transfer-Restricted)”, a private placement security token totaling approximately 8 billion yen. The Fund is Japan’s first security token to invest in venture
Weekly
Welcome to the one hundred fortieth edition of the Japan FinTech Observer. Congratulations to the team at Wise, who became the first money transfer operator to complete integration with the Zengin interbank-settlement network. The timing could not have been better, as we are spending this week in Estonia, courtesy of
venture capital
PitchBook has released its Global VC Ecosystem Rankings (Q4 2019 to Q3 2025), providing a data-driven look at where the world’s venture capital is flowing. While the United States continues to dominate the top charts, the data reveals a compelling story for Japan, highlighting a period of significant momentum