Web3 infrastructure company Startale Group has announced the completion of its Series A funding round, raising a total of $63 million under the joint leadership of Japan’s SBI Group and Sony Innovation Fund. This significant investment positions Startale at the heart of Japan’s accelerating efforts to build institutional-grade digital securities and stablecoin infrastructure.
SBI and Sony Lead Strategic Round
In the funding round, Sony Innovation Fund contributed the initial $13 million, followed by a further $50 million from SBI Group. SBI Group, one of the largest financial conglomerates in Japan, serves more than 80 million clients across the region. Sony, meanwhile, brings its global footprint and expertise to the table as a heavyweight in entertainment and technology industries worldwide.
The two corporate giants have previously collaborated on Soneium, an Ethereum-based Layer 2 blockchain, and Startale itself launched Strium—a Layer 1 network specializing in tokenization that allows securities and real-world assets to be traded on-chain. Startale’s Japanese yen-backed stablecoin, JPYSC, has become one of the country’s pioneering, bank-supported digital yen offerings.
Yoshitaka Kitao, Chairman of the Board at SBI Group, emphasized that this partnership would combine “SBI Group and Startale’s complementary strengths in digital finance.” Startale also recently introduced the USDSC stablecoin, pegged to the US dollar, enabling both individual and institutional users to seamlessly convert fiat currencies into crypto assets, while simultaneously accessing on-chain dividends and yield opportunities.
Strategic Vision and Industry Implications
The investment from Sony Innovation Fund is seen as an extension of the companies’ existing technical partnership and is earmarked to help turn Startale’s Soneium application into a “SuperApp.” The goal is to create a single platform that brings together tokenized assets, stablecoin transactions, payments, mini-applications, and social features, providing users with an all-in-one digital experience.
Startale CEO Sota Watanabe noted that this backing demonstrates “strong confidence from our partners in our current vision,” and highlighted that, with the SBI partnership, “tokenization of Japanese stocks and use of JPY stablecoins will accelerate in Japan this year.”
Unlike many projects in the decentralized finance space, Startale is prioritizing growth at the infrastructure layer, focusing on large-scale tokenization and stablecoin settlements for institutional clients. With access to SBI’s vast customer base, Startale’s Strium network and JPYSC stablecoin enjoy major distribution advantages in the Japanese market. Meanwhile, the Soneium platform—developed in partnership with Sony—opens the door for these new products to reach consumers on a global level.
Japan continues to lead the international pack in developing clear regulations for digital assets and stablecoins. As regulatory frameworks grow more robust, Startale is expected to leverage this environment to deliver innovative solutions catering to both institutional and retail markets.
