debt financing

UPSIDER Establishes Venture Debt Fund "UPSIDER BLUE DREAM Growth Fund 2"

Norbert Gehrke

09 Jul 2025 — 3 min read

UPSIDER Capital Corporation, a subsidiary of UPSIDER Corporation, has completed the final close of the second fund "UPSIDER BLUE DREAM Growth Fund 2", within the venture debt fund "UPSIDER BLUE DREAM Fund" operated as a joint venture with Mizuho Financial Group.

This Fund includes participation from multiple new investors including regional financial institutions and insurance companies in addition to Mizuho FG, and has begun operations with a total scale of 14.3 billion yen. Combined with the first fund established in December 2023, the cumulative total fund amount reaches 24.3 billion yen, making it the largest scale independent venture debt fund in Japan.

Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance to Acquire Time Machine Underwriters

Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance (MSI), a subsidiary of MS&AD Insurance Group, has decided to acquire shares of Time Machine Underwriters (TMU), a Managing General Agency (MGA) specialized in Representation & Warranty Insurance in Japan. MSI plans to acquire the majority ownership share of TMU on August 1 2025, and

SMBC Group Launches Agentic AI Venture to Pioneer Next-Generation Enterprise AI

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (SMBC Group) will appoint Ahmed Jamil Mazhari to lead transformation initiatives aimed at accelerating group-wide AI strategy and integration. In partnership with Mazhari, SMFG will also establish a new agentic AI solutions company in Singapore, first serving SMBC Group as “customer zero” before expanding to the

Summary of the 9th Meeting of the Central Bank Digital Currency Liaison Council

The Bank of Japan has published the minutes from the 9th meeting of the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) Liaison Council on June 4, 2025. The meeting covered discussions about: * Progress updates from the Bank of Japan on CBDC pilot experiments and international developments * Key concerns from various financial industry

Japan FinTech Observer #119

Welcome to the one hundred nineteenth edition of the Japan FinTech Observer. With the last update on the Shunto wage negotiations behind, and the Upper House elections ahead of us, it is worth taking another look at the situation the average Japanese consumer finds herself in. In September 2022, we

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Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance to Acquire Time Machine Underwriters

SMBC Group Launches Agentic AI Venture to Pioneer Next-Generation Enterprise AI

Summary of the 9th Meeting of the Central Bank Digital Currency Liaison Council

Japan FinTech Observer #119