Japan-based financial inclusion service Gojo & Company closed a ¥7.07bn ($68.6m) series D round yesterday having added approximately $26m from investors including corporates Dai-ichi Life, Marui Group, Ricoh Leasing and GMO.
The latest tranche included insurer Dai-ichi Life, retailer Marui, leasing services provider Ricoh and GMO VenturePartners, the investment arm of internet company GMO, as well as Tokyo University of Science Innovation Capital and Beyond Next Ventures.
Gojo offers microfinancing products geared to underserved communities in multiple South and Southeast Asian countries, in addition to certain markets in Africa.
Financial services firms Seven Bank and SBI Group contributed to the round’s April 2020 first close alongside debt financing from payment services provider Credit Saison.
Higashi-Nippon Bank’s Local Company Revitalisation Fund joined Baillie Gifford, TGVest Capital and several private investors in the second tranche of the round in September.
Gojo said in a press release it has now raised a total of more than $140m, Dai-ichi Life having led a final tranche that allowed it to close a $38.8m series C round in September 2019.
The series C round was also backed by Aizawa Investments and SBI Investment, subsidiaries of securities firm Aizawa Securities and SBI respectively, as well as Tokyo University of Science Investment Management Company, 15th Rock Ventures and Dream Incubator’s Dimension fund.
Marui, Seven Bank, Japan International Cooperation Agency and TransLink Capital Partners, the venture capital vehicle co-founded by insurer Sompo Japan Nipponkoa, had backed the second close the previous month.
Participants in Gojo’s $17.2m series B round in 2018 included consulting firm Link and Motivation and Nissay Capital, the corporate venturing arm of insurance firm Nippon Life, which invested $1.9m in February.
Dai-ichi Life and Nippon Venture Capital had supplied $5.4m for the round the previous year, and Jafco invested later on in 2018.
