Blockchain Startup Ginco Raises Funding from DBJ Capital in Pre-Series A Round | BRIDGE Technology & Startup Information

Tokyo-based blockchain startup Ginco has announced that it has raised a pre-series A round of funding from DBJ Capital. Both Ginco and his DBJ Capital have not disclosed the amount of funding or investment, but according to the stories of people involved, it is estimated to be around several hundred million yen. For Ginco, it follows the seed funding of 150 million yen from Global Brain in 2018.

Consumer-oriented virtual currency wallet applications (both software and hardware), mining, decentralized virtual currency exchanges (DEX), and many other virtual currency-related products, we have become a boutique solution provider. Ginco. The last time BRIDGE took up the company was about a year ago. The lineup increased, including the management system "HashTune".

While monetization of blockchain business is difficult, finance is the most likely to have an impact due to its market size. This is an area where security and regulation are important because it has a large impact on and connection with society as a whole, but service providers using blockchain (for example, virtual currency exchanges) are not always good at technical aspects, and they are ahead of industry demand. Ginco's strength lies in its ability to catch up and provide support. Recently, Ginco Enterprise Wallet for exchanges seems to be doing well in terms of business.

Ginco Enterprise Wallet is a multisig-compatible crypto asset management system that supports two types: hot wallet and cold wallet. In general, it is an unwritten rule in the IT world that when security is enhanced, the operation becomes complicated due to the trade-off. Although it is not disclosed which exchanges have introduced Ginco, it seems that there are more than a few users who indirectly rely on Ginco if they are involved in cryptocurrency trading. Ginco CEO Yuuto Morikawa is enthusiastic about aiming for a 30% share of the domestic market by the end of the year.

For DBJ Capital, which made the investment this time, it is the first experience to invest in a blockchain startup. Masafumi Kawai, director of investment at DBJ Capital, who was in charge of investment decisions, told BRIDGE in an interview:

The parent company of DBJ Capital is the well-known Development Bank of Japan (DBJ). Due to the nature of DBJ's policy-based financial institution, DBJ and DBJ Capital receive inquiries from various industries, so this investment is expected to play a role in the growth of his Ginco from the perspective of social implementation of blockchain. be done. DBJ Capital hopes to contribute to cross-industry open innovation by utilizing Ginco's technologies and solutions.

Ginco was selected for Dentsu's GRASSHOPPER spring 2019 batch. Finalist at B Dash Camp Fall 2018 in Fukuoka and won the pitch session "Arena" at Tech in Asia Tokyo 2018.

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