Japan's LayerX lifts Series A to $59m
Japan’s LayerX, an enterprise billing and invoicing software provider, has lifted an ongoing Series A round to JPY 8.2bn (USD 59m) with support from several local VC firms.
The latest tranche, amounting to almost JPY 2.7bn, included SBI Investment, UB Ventures, Dimension, Mizuho Capital, MUFG Innovation Partners, and government investor Japan Investment Corporation.
It follows a JPY 5.5bn investment last March that brought together local investors Jafco, Mitsubishi UFJ Capital, Spiral Capital, Z Venture Capital, GMO Venture Partners, Anri, Prime Partners, Mitsui & Co, and Mitsubishi Estate. UK-based Dawn Capital and Singapore’s Beenext Capital Management also participated.
LayerX developed is core product, Bakuraku, in partnership with Mitsui with a view to comprehensively digitalising expense management for corporate clients. In addition to invoicing, Bakuraku covers areas such as reimbursements, marketing costs, and corporate cards.
The system is largely based on artificial intelligence (AI) although the use of blockchain in the data privacy product, Anonify, is highlighted as a differentiating feature. Use-cases of Anonify include Aioi Nissay Dowa Insurance deploying the technology to monitor traffic data while protecting personal information such as identify of drivers.
LayerX has also teamed up with sustainability-focused software company Uhuru Corporation to develop internet-of-things (IoT) systems. The idea is that as smart cities and smart supply chains evolve, IoT devices autonomously trading data will be subject to security issues.
The company claims to have served about 3,000 companies since 2020. That year, it raised a JPY 3bn seed round featuring Jafco, Anri, and Z Venture Capital, then known as YJ Capital.
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