Participated · Series A · Aug 2021

Paytner offers an automated invoice receipt service (Paytner Invoice) and an online invoice prepayment/factoring service (Paytner Factoring) aimed at improving cash flow for freelancers and SMBs. The company was founded in 2019 and is headquartered in Minato, Tokyo. Paytner positions itself to remove "money stress" for growing businesses and says it is expanding its platform to support broader cash-management and financing needs. The business reports strong traction—Incubate Fund noted cumulative application volumes have surpassed 200,000—and other investors describe the company as a rapidly growing industry leader. Paytner is using the new funding to strengthen hiring and organizational capabilities, accelerate product feature development, and prepare for a potential IPO. The company is pursuing growth toward becoming the domestic No.1 provider in freelance-focused factoring services. Peitner (formerly yup) offers invoice automation via its "Peitner Invoice" service and an invoice prepayment service called "Peitner Factoring." The company targets individual proprietors and small legal entities. Peitner launched Peitner Factoring in September 2019 and Peitner Invoice in September 2022. Since launch, Peitner Factoring has surpassed 55,000 cumulative applications. The company says it will use the newly raised capital to expand hiring, strengthen organizational structure, and enhance product functionality. Cumulatively the company has raised about ¥2.5 billion to date. yup offers a factoring-based advance-payment service that buys invoice receivables to deliver same-day payouts primarily to sole proprietors and small corporations. The company began its service in September 2019 and spent two years improving a proprietary credit-scoring algorithm to minimize default risk. yup differentiates by focusing on smaller-scale users underserved by traditional factoring, and by strengthening bank-system integrations. It is developing a SaaS to digitize invoices, selected for MUFG Digital Accelerator, with planned integrations to banking systems and accounting SaaS to enable end-to-end invoice processing. Financially, yup announced a Series A round that included debt financing totaling about ¥450 million. The company sees competition from domestic payroll-advance and cloud-factoring players but believes there is no equivalent full-service domestic offering today.

Participated · Series D · May 2020

Gojo operates a group of microfinance companies across five countries, delivering low‑cost small‑loan financial services to underserved businesses and individuals. The company aims to expand financial inclusion, targeting 50 countries and 100 million people by 2030, and is pursuing digitization and group expansion in Asia and Africa. As of June 2023 Gojo’s group comprised five countries and nine companies, with over 8,200 employees, 1.75 million loan customers, and consolidated loan assets exceeding ¥100.0 billion. For fiscal year ending March 2023 Gojo reported financial income of ¥18.6 billion and operating profit of ¥1.76 billion, achieving consolidated profitability. The group supports local subsidiaries with finance, governance, and technology implementation, and has strengthened its executive team to reinforce governance and local partnerships. Gojo also executed a share transfer agreement for CHAMROEUN Microfinance (Cambodia) as part of its group optimization efforts. Gojo & Company Inc. announced it closed a funding transaction on December 17, 2020. In the final tranche the company raised ¥2,720,000,000, bringing gross proceeds for the transaction to ¥7,070,000,000. The tranche included participation from Ricoh Leasing Company, Ltd., Beyond Next Ventures Inc., GMO VenturePartners, Inc., returning investors Dai-ichi Life Holdings, Inc. and Marui Group Co., Ltd., Tokyo University of Science Investment Management Company and other investors. The company has raised $140,000,000 (¥152,922,000,000) in total funding to date. The article does not disclose the company’s core product, future plans, or operating metrics. Gojo & Company, Inc. provides financial services aimed at expanding credit and financial access for underserved clients in developing countries. The company emphasizes a mission of “Financial Access For All” and aspires to act as a “Private Sector World Bank.” Gojo plans to reach more than 100 million people across all continents by the end of 2030. It completed a $4 million bank commitment line with The Tokyo Star Bank to support its Cambodia operations, where the economy is dollarized. This is Gojo’s first bank borrowing, although its affiliates already have multiple banks and impact investors as lenders. The company intends to leverage relatively low-cost funding and expand loan funding relationships with Japanese and Taiwanese financial institutions. Shareholders and stakeholders supported the transaction, which Gojo says will increase resources available to partner-country clients.