Original Press Release can be found on Nudge’s website

Nudge Inc. is pleased to announce it has raised additional funding from Insignia Ventures Partners and Sony Innovation Fund in Series Pre-A round led by Spiral Capital and Headline Asia. Existing investor Genesia Ventures and founder Takashi Okita also participated in this round extension. So far, Nudge Inc. has raised 1.2 billion JPY in total.

Founded in 2020, Nudge Inc. has been on a mission to “create the future of financial services through collective action.”  It aims to achieve financial inclusion in Japan by becoming a challenger bank through open innovation with its equity partners. It also advocates “free”, “fair”, and “flat” organizational culture that constitutes its corporate philosophy.

Nudge’s next generation credit card service launched in September 2021

Nudge Inc. launched the next-generation credit card service “Nudge” in September 2021 after registering as a small-amount comprehensive credit purchase intermediator. Its safe and secure credit card service provides its users with the unique experience of supporting their favorite sport teams, artists, or creators. Nudge Inc. also provides a simple onboarding process on its mobile app and flexible repayment.

With the successful launch of its credit card service, Nudge Inc. plans to further accelerate the expansion of the “Nudge” card service and its existing services as the company works towards becoming a challenger bank. In order to further develop its services, the company has also been aggressively recruiting new talents. Subject to shareholders’ approval, Nudge Inc. will also appoint two new external board members before the end of 2021 to enhance the company’s corporate governance as a responsible financial services provider.

Nudge team

With the knowledge and experience of Insignia Ventures Partners and Sony Innovation Fund around the fan economy and challenger banks, Nudge Inc. is also developing plans to expand into other domains including NFTs, BaaS and expansion to overseas markets.

Tan Yinglan, Founding Managing Partner of Insignia Ventures Partners shares,

“We’ve had the privilege of being early backers to some of the leading digital banks and neobanks in Southeast Asia, and now I’m excited to also be partnering with Takashi Okita-san and his team at Nudge as they build challenger bank to reinvent financial services in Japan! Digital banking is still in its early days in Asia, and we’ve learned that a strong operator background and regulatory connections are key in a leader navigating the growth of a digital bank in this landscape. I’ve had the pleasure of knowing Okita-san for a long time and witnessing his stellar entrepreneurial career across Hong Kong and Tokyo, from the private to the public markets. We believe he has been able to leverage these strengths in experience and connections to bring Nudge to life, being one of the first companies to secure the new Japanese credit card license, and take the company even further as we enter the digital banking chapter of financial services in Asia.”

Gen Tsuchikawa, Chief Investment Manager of  Sony Innovation Fund shares,

“Under an experienced management team, Nudge approaches issues the traditional financial industry faces head-on and provides a new value of customer-oriented experience through utilizing the fan community. We will continue to support the company’s business growth in collaboration with many investors and partners.”

Nudge Inc.

Founded on 12th February 2020
CEO: Takashi Okita
Address: Finolab (Otemachi building 4th floor), 1-6-1 Otemachi, Chiyoda-ward, Tokyo
https://www.nudge.works/