Japan’s MoneyForward gets series C funding amid fintech boom

Japanese startup MoneyForward today revealed to Tech in Asia that it has secured JPY 1.6 billion (US$13.3 million) in series C funding. It comes amidst a boom in financial tech – aka, fintech – startups around the world.

The investors in this newest round are SBI Holdings, Shizuoka Bank, Yamaguchi Financial Group, Toho Bank, Fenox Venture Capital, Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corporation, and Mitsui & Co.

MoneyForward offers online tools that help people and companies manager their finances and expenses. Users can link all kinds of accounts – banks, credit cards, securities, etc – and get a dashboard with analytics that show the health of their wealth. It can even crunch a bunch of data and estimate your future financial trajectory. It’s not just a website – there are apps for iOS and Android too.

Its users are a surprising mix of individuals, small businesses, and major corporations. Naoya Kanesaka, MoneyForward’s CFO, says the service now has 2.5 million users on the personal finance product, while 400,000 users are on the enterprise-oriented cloud accounting side. Both elements contribute almost equally to the startup’s revenue.

The startup now has 1,300 corporate clients using the cloud accounting service, adds CEO Yosuke Tsuji. “They realize they have succeeded to improve their operation, BPO [business process outsourcing], and also cut software costs dramatically by using MoneyForward cloud services,” he adds. (Updated 30 minutes after publishing with comments from the CEO that were mailed-in before article was published.)

MoneyForward’s iPhone app.

The number of paying users? That’s being kept top secret.

Befriending banks

“As a fintech startup in Japan, we are the only player who has a track record in terms of fintech business with banks,” claims Naoya. MoneyForward recently added SBI Sumishin Net Bank (now an investor), the largest online bank in Japan, to its roster, and today announced Yamaguchi Financial Group joining as a customer as well.

Since we last looked at the startup on the occasion of its series B funding, the team has doubled in size to more than 100 employees.

MoneyForward is up against Freee, another online accounting startup, as well as the more minimal money mangement app Moneytree. Coincidentally (or not), Moneytree announced its series A funding earlier today, with investors including none other than enterprise services giant Salesforce.

As rivals evolve and expand, so too is MoneyForward. One of the latest additions is a cloud-based payroll service for small and medium-sized enterprises.

Have you entrusted your financial health to an app or online service? Let us know how it went in the comments.