Japan’s LayerX raises $102Mn to expand AI finance tools
TOKYO, JAPAN — LayerX, a Tokyo-based AI startup, has secured a major investment to fuel its expansion.
Forbes reports that LayerX announced a ¥15 billion (US$102.2 million) Series B funding round led by United States growth equity firm TCV to scale its AI-powered financial workflow automation software.
Global investors bet on Japan’s AI market
This investment highlights a growing global conviction that Japanese industries, which have historically lagged in digitalization, are susceptible to AI-enabled discontinuity and demonstrate significant growth potential.
The involvement of large domestic financial institutions also speaks of this confidence. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, a banking giant, and Jafco Group, a venture firm, also participated in the round, underscoring a concerted effort to modernize back-office operations.
This investment is led by an earlier Series A round of ¥10 billion (US$68.1 million) in 2023, which shows the continued and growing investor appetite in the specific solution set of LayerX to a paper-intensive corporate world.
Automating back-office finance with AI
According to another Pymnts report, LayerX is specifically addressing the manual, document-intensive workflows that burden corporate departments. Its flagship Bakuraku platform automates some fundamental, yet grueling tasks, such as invoice processing, expense reimbursements, and corporate card management.
Through its ability to identify data in documents such as PDFs using AI, the software minimally lowers the amount of manual overhead in finance, tax, procurement, and HR teams, providing higher speed and compliance.
The market response validates this approach, showing strong and rapid adoption among Japanese companies. According to Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Yoshinori Fukushima, the customer base grew by 10,000 in February 2024 and by an additional 5,000 in April 2025, with an increase in enterprise client sign-ups.
“Headcount has also grown from about 220 employees in October 2023 to around 430 as of the end of July 2025,” Fukushima told TechCrunch.
This growth occurs within a broader national push for digital transformation, placing LayerX alongside other specialized AI firms like LegalOn Technologies and amid major developments like SoftBank’s $3 billion annual investment with OpenAI to transform corporate operations in Japan.
“This initiative will not only transform the way SoftBank Group operates but also revolutionize the way companies work in Japan and around the globe,” noted Masayoshi Son, Chairman and CEO of SoftBank Group.
