Jan 24, 2025

SmartBank, provider of the household management service “B/43” (Be-Yon-San), announced on the 16th the completion of a 250 million yen second close of their Series B round. The funding comes through third-party allocation of shares to SMBC Venture Capital and Z Venture Capital, following their Series B first close in November last year which raised 2.93 billion yen led by SMBC-GB Growth Fund. The round included new investors Seven Bank and Japan Post Spiral Regional Innovation Fund, among others. Combined with 1.15 billion yen in loans from multiple financial institutions in April last year, the company’s total funding since its founding has reached 7.33 billion yen. SmartBank was established in April 2019 to address the challenge that “while everyone uses money daily, most people can’t track it properly,” and developed “ B/43 .” According to the company, as a “household budget prepaid card” combining a Visa prepaid card with a household accounting app, it has exceeded 1 million cumulative downloads since its release in April 2021. Monthly transaction volume has expanded to several billion yen, driven by increased interest in saving due to inflation, growth in dual-income households with limited time for household accounting, and the spread of cashless payments. By simply charging a monthly budget to the prepaid card and making payments, spending details are reflected in real-time in the app. Furthermore, they have expanded functionality to enable management of non-prepaid card expenses within a single B/43 app by implementing credit card and bank account linking features and AI receipt scanning capabilities. B/43 app (from App Store) The company also offers “B/43 Pair Card” for couples and cohabiting partners. Users can create two cards for one account, and both parties can check expenses, eliminating the need for complicated splitting of bills or cash exchanges. It can be used regardless of legal marital status, including common-law partners and cohabiting couples. The “B/43 Junior Card” for parent-child use enables cashless allowances and joint money management between parents and children. Since usable amounts are limited to charged funds, it can also serve as practice before getting a credit card. The company aims to help create surplus funds for achieving original goals such as asset management, travel, and self-investment. From spring 2025, they plan to provide an AI assistant service using generative AI to guide household budget improvements. The raised funds will be used for development of these services, organizational strengthening through talent acquisition, and marketing activities for user acquisition.