Japanese financial services giant SBI Group has led a $50-million investment in blockchain infrastructure firm Startale Group, completing the company’s $63-million Series A round.
The latest tranche follows a $13 million first close backed by Sony Innovation Fund, which Startale disclosed in January, giving the Tokyo-based company two strategic investors as it pushes into tokenized securities and stablecoin-based financial services.
Startale said the new capital will be used to accelerate products it is developing with SBI, including Strium, a Layer 1 blockchain designed for tokenized securities and real-world asset trading, and JPYSC, which it described as the first trust bank-backed Japanese yen stablecoin.
Those initiatives were co-developed through a joint venture announced in August 2025.
The company said it is also co-developing Soneium with Sony Group and sees the platform as part of a wider effort to link institutional financial infrastructure with consumer-facing blockchain experiences.
SBI’s backing would help it advance what it calls a vertically integrated strategy that spans blockchain networks, stablecoin issuance, tokenized securities, and end-user applications, Startale said.
It added that the funding is expected to support products that could serve not only SBI’s customer base but also the broader financial market as tokenization gains traction.
“Through the deep collaboration with SBI, we will accelerate the adoption of tokenised stocks, centered on Japanese equities and JPY stablecoin, this year,” Startale Group CEO Sota Watanabe said.
SBI Chairman and President Yoshitaka Kitao said Startale’s on-chain capabilities complement those of the Japanese financial group.
By bringing Startale into SBI’s digital ecosystem through the investment, he said, the companies could accelerate what he described as the “on-chain transformation of society” while pursuing a vertical integration strategy in digital finance.
Founded in 1999, SBI Group is a comprehensive internet financial group that operates a financial services business, centred on securities, banking, and insurance, as the pioneer of internet-based financial services in Japan.
In November, DealStreetAsia reported that SBI invested in a Vietnam-based insurtech platform, Saladin, through one of its venture capital arms. The deal was said to have valued Saladin at $15 million.
