Japanese AI expert Alpaca closes JPY647m Series-A round
The list of Series-A round participants include MUFG Bank, SMBC Venture Capital Fund, and Innovative Venture Fund Investment LP.
Artificial intelligence (AI) solutions have seen wide adoption by financial services companies in Japan. Fintech expert AlpacaJapan, a provider of AI solutions, has been trusted by companies like online brokerage Kabu.com Securities.
Today, AlpacaJapan announces the closing of JPY647 million Series-A round and raising of a JPY100 million 7-year SME Loan.
The list of participants in the Series-A Round includes MUFG Bank, SMBC Venture Capital Fund, Innovative Venture Fund Investment LP (co-operated by NEC Capital Solutions and SMBC Venture Capital), CSV Venture Fund LLP (co-operated by NEC Capital Solutions and Venture Labo Investment), D4V (a joint-venture fund by IDEO and Genuine Startups), Archetype Venture Fund (Early stage venture fund specializing in B2B tech), Eric Di Benedetto, a leading AI and Fintech angel investor and other Venture Fund, Angel investor. The company also raised SME loan from Japan Finance Corporation.
The funds are set to be used to accelerate the development of various products, such as “AlpacaForecast”, a platform that predicts market moves, and “AI Prediction Matrix”, an app that was launched with Bloomberg in May.
Alpaca has been working on various projects with Japanese financial services companies. In March this year, for instance, a partnership between Japan’s Jibun Bank and Alpaca resulted in a new service harnessing the capabilities of AI. The solution targets those who would like to make use of foreign currency deposits and would like to do so at the right moment, that is, when the exchange rates are most favourable.
This year, AlpacaJapan was also certified as one of the companies supported by the J-Startup program initiated by Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.
