Japan-based digital currency service DeCurret secured ¥6.7bn ($61.6m) yesterday from investors including corporates Sohgo Security Services (AlsOK), Internet Initiative Japan (IIJ), KDDI, Mitsubishi, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT) and Secom.
Japan Post Bank, a banking subsidiary of postal service Japan Post, also participated in the round alongside fellow financial services providers SBI Holdings, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and Mitsubishi UFJ Bank, the last two being identified as returning backers.
Internet service provider IIJ remains the largest shareholder in the company, and was joined in the round by telecommunications network operators KDDI and NTT, diversified trading group Mitsubishi and security system providers AlsOK and Secom.
Founded in 2018 as a cryptocurrency exchange service, DeCurret expanded its business in June 2020 to include a business-focused blockchain study group. The yen-based digital currency standardisation forum has more than 55 participants including company investors such as KDDI, Mitsubishi and NTT.
The funding will be used to improve DeCurret’s virtual currency platform and bolster partnerships with its collaborators.
AlsOK, IIJ and KDDI had already backed a $31.5m round for the company in mid-2019, investing together with insurers Daido Life, Meiji Yasuda Life and Sumitomo Life as well as telecoms firm Energia Communications.
Energy utility Chubu Electric Power and printing services firm Toppan also took part in the 2019 round, as did video game publisher Konami, railway operator Hankyu Hanshin and brokerage Matsui Securities.
