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The bulk of the aging universe in Japan still favor using hard cash for proceedings , harmonize to a late reportciting governing data . In 2023 , cashless transactions in Japan tote up 126.7 trillion yen ( $ 885 billion ) , report for 39.3 percent of all spending in the country , enjoin the Japanese governing . The governance hopes that number reaches 40 per centum by 2025 .
The Nipponese authorities ’s first step to increase cashless dealings is being supported by a Tokyo - base startup calledSmartBank , which offer an app and service that make switch to cashless payment easier for the great unwashed .
Shota Horii ( chief executive officer of SmartBank ) , along with his twin brother Yuta Horii ( CTO ) and Jun Taketani ( CXO ) , founded the company in 2019 after selling their previous company , Fablic , to Rakuten in 2016 . While run Fablic , the three strike that many substance abuser were still using cash for casual fiscal transactions . The founding father launch SmartBank in an crusade to address a problem within the consumer finance industry in Japan .
SmartBank ’s primary quarry users are soul in their 20s and 30s seeking to cope personal finances , as well as married couples looking to finagle their finance . Now the company says it has more than 1 million downloads , but they did not provide the number of substance abuser .
Its core production is a prepaid card and a finance direction app that offers a depositary bill . Its prepaid identity card include the B/43 My Card , the Visa - post defrayment card for single individual ; the B/43 Pair Card for user to oversee their finances with their partners ; and the B/43 Junior Card for adolescent .
“ Our core user base,[which was B/43 My Card ] , is now the B/43 Pair Card users … this is substantial as banks in Japan do not provide joint bank score , and B/43 has become the go - to production , ” Shimogawara said .
The inauguration said Tuesday that it has grow 4 billion JPY ( $ 26 million ) , with 1.1 billion JPY ( $ 7.2 million ) get along from debt funding and 2.9 billion JPY ( $ 18.8 million ) from fairness provided by its current investor , Global Brain . The equity capital is from a fund imprint with SMBC , one of the largest money box in Japan . As of April 2024 , SmartBank had set up a total of 5.93 billion JPY ( $ 38.5 M ) in equity and 1.1 billion JPY in debt since its inception . The inauguration will use the unexampled capital letter to duplicate down on hiring from 49 stave in October to around 100 employees by 2025 ; one-half of the full workforce will be the engineering team , SmartBank CFO Yuta Shimogawara say in an single consultation with TechCrunch .
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The latest funding comes roughly two and a one-half years afterits Series A , $ 20 M , in July 2022 . The startup has since then expanded its user stand and product offering with the goal of becoming a comprehensive fiscal platform like a depository financial institution , providing a wide range of fiscal service to users in the future .
Just last month , the company introducedan AI receipt interpretation featureby using productive AI technology to transform its app into an AI - driven financial advisor , said Chihaya Akaike , the film director of business operations at SmartBank . This feature film helps users better infer their finance , optimizes and automate fiscal action , and enables them to use , redeem , and seat their money , Akaike told TechCrunch .
“ Consumer fintech services in Japan have been slow to practice AI , but our finish is to become the lead AI fintech company in the country , ” Akaike proceed .
On top of that , the party late added a feature article allowing users to connect their credit cards and bank accounts to B/43 to get a holistic view of their funds . “ We will be make our service approachable to non - card users as we afford it so that users can start up using B/43 without issuing a posting and by simply linking their subsist credit card and depository financial institution account , which will also expand our revenue current , ” Akaike explained .
SmartBank obtained a license for money transfers three year ago , admit users to disengage their depositary in cash . It also receive a prepaid payment instrument permit in April , start the startup to hold substance abuser ’ deposit . The license help the company offer services like requital and P2P transfers .
Its equal like MoneyForward and Zaim can not hold user ’ deposits , which limits their power to assist user in wield their personal asset , such as saving and investment , according to the ship’s company .
The five - year - old outfit plans to broaden revenue stream beyond its give-and-take fees ( IRF ) , where most revenue arrive from . In addition to IRF , it has put through other services like Buy Now Pay Later ( BNPL ) , subscription ( B/43 Plus ) , and referrals , Akaike said .
