Sony Financial Ventures

Retail investors demanding sophisticated passive investment strategies are looking for an edge.

Retail Trading Infrastructure

WealthNavi Inc. is a Japanese financial technology company that operates Japan's largest robo-advisor platform. The company's flagship service, "WealthNavi," provides automated investment advice and portfolio management to individual investors. As of December 2021, WealthNavi led the Japanese market in terms of assets under management and number of users among specialist online operators.
Key customers and partnerships
In February 2024, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) announced plans to invest 15 billion yen (USD 100 million) in WealthNavi through a private placement. This investment is expected to give MUFG Bank, the group's flagship unit, a stake of over 15% in WealthNavi, making it an equity-method affiliate. As part of this partnership, MUFG Bank plans to offer a service recommending investment products, mortgages, and insurance policies to customers based on their assets, leveraging WealthNavi's technology. WealthNavi is set to maintain its listing on the Tokyo Stock Exchange and retain its current leadership team, with MUFG Bank sending a director to join WealthNavi's board.

New insurance models are disrupting a centuries-old industry with a focus on personalization and convenience

InsurTech: Personal Lines

Based in the UK, FloodFlash is an insurance technology company that combines computer models, cloud software, and internet-of-things sensors into flood cover that provides catastrophic flood claims within 48 hours. FloodFlash offers a rapid-pay-out flood cover through an alternative model known as parametric insurance. It includes a mobile connected smart sensor installed at the property that reports any flooding and provides alerts when the agreed trigger-depth has been reached. Following this, the claim is automatically initiated, and, upon approval, the payment is made.FloodFlash primarily focuses on offering commercial flood cover for businesses, but also provides policies to the mass market, which includes homeowners insurance. In addition to offering services in its domestic market, the company offers flood insurance cover across all mainland US locations.

A concentration of wealth and a willingness to adopt age-in-place technologies present new opportunities.

Age Tech

UK-based Rest Less offers a social and communication platform dedicated to empowering individuals over the age of 50. It aims to inspire and support this generation to get the most out of life, whether it is through work, learning, volunteering, travel, or lifestyle. Some features and services that Rest Less provides are job listings, money management resources, access to educational courses, health management resources, a dating platform, leisure and lifestyle circles, volunteer opportunities, and event listings.The company operates on a freemium basis, where it offers most of its services for free but also offers several facilities with paid-subscription, such as extended messaging in its dating service. The company has several membership plans spanning from GBP 12 (USD 15) to GBP 32 (USD 40) per month.As of January 2024, the company noted that it had 1.2 million members on its platform.

Disrupting the traditional financial system using blockchain

Decentralized Finance (DeFi)

Securitize offers a platform that enables enterprises to raise funds by issuing tokens on assets such as equity, funds, fixed income, and real estate. Securitize is an SEC Registered Transfer Agent that is integrated with a number of regulated US-based marketplaces. The platform features a blockchain-based decentralized protocol with live issuers and provides users with both primary and secondary marketplaces for purchasing and trading issued tokens. Additionally, the company also offers know-your-customer and anti-money-laundering services (KYC/AML), capital management services, and a number of yield funds for users to invest in.In June 2021, the company also launched an asset management subsidiary, “Securitize Capital” as well as two cryptocurrency yield funds. In June 2023, Securitize announced that it had begun tokenizing equity in Mancipi, a Spanish real estate investment trust, with plans to launch secondary trading on the Avalanche blockchain in September. This was reportedly the first natively tokenized equity issuance under the European Union’s pilot regime for blockchain technology. In September 2023, the company launched tokenized feeder funds for Hamilton Lane's (an investment management firm) direct equity, evergreen senior credit, and secondary funds.To broaden its product offering, Securitize acquired stock transfer agent Pacific Stock Transfer (PST) for an undisclosed sum in February 2022. The company also expected to expand its own tokenization offering to clients of PST. The company went on to <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/21117">acquire Onramp Invest</a>, a wealth management platform for digital assets, for an undisclosed amount in August 2023. Securitize will leverage the acquisition to enable registered investment advisors (RIAs) to offer tokenized investments via the Onramp dashboard.Key customers and partnershipsAs of March 2024, Securitize’s digital platform served over 500,000 users. During the same period, the company partnered with Blackrock to support the development of the latter’s USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund.Funding and financialsIn April 2024, Securitize <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/29051">secured USD 47 million</a> in new funding led by BlackRock, to accelerate product development, expand its global operations, and bolster its partnerships across the financial services industry.

Ensuring the right people access the right resources at the right time

Identity & Access Management

Secret Double Octopus (SDO) is a provider of workforce passwordless multi-factor authentication (MFA) solutions. The company's Octopus platform enables organizations to replace vulnerable passwords with passwordless MFA across the enterprise, including for domain accounts, cloud and SaaS applications, networks, and legacy applications. SDO's solution utilizes patented technologies to generate machine-generated keys and employs a multi-factor authentication process to protect them, eliminating the need for users to create, remember, or change passwords. The Octopus platform offers benefits such as improved security, enhanced user experience, and reduced costs associated with password management. Key customers and partnerships In August 2023, SDO announced a partnership with KDDI Digital Security, a leading provider of managed enterprise security services in Japan, to offer SDO's FIDO2-compliant passwordless authentication solution to customers of KDDI's managed remote access VPN services. In March 2023, SDO formed a global partnership with Wipro Limited, wherein Wipro's Cybersecurity and Risk Services (CRS) division will use SDO's Octopus Enterprise technology platform to drive Wipro's passwordless authentication solution as part of the company's Zero Trust digital identity initiative. In March 2023, SDO also announced a strategic partnership with ForgeRock, a global digital identity leader, to launch ForgeRock Enterprise Connect Passwordless. This co-branded solution enhances ForgeRock's ability to eliminate the need for users to interact with passwords within large organizations by integrating SDO's Octopus platform components into ForgeRock's passwordless and MFA capabilities.

Turing develops and manufactures fully autonomous vehicles.

Open Payments Europe is a developer of an open banking platform used to offer a single, open, and secure point of access. The company provides the groundbreaking market infrastructure required for successful open banking. The Open Payments Platform is a PSD2 compliant API aggregation platform that offers a single, open, and secure point of access to the diverse bank API networks throughout Europe. It was founded in 2017 and is headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden.

Rest Less is a social impact business helping a generation of over 50s get the most from life. Today’s over 50s are digitally savvy, highly engaged on social media, more active, and fundamentally healthier than previous generations. Yet they are still under-represented across so many dimensions. With more than 1 million registered members, Rest Less helps people to navigate through what is often a transitional stage in life - offering a range of resources covering health, wealth, work, learning, lifestyle, social connections and much more.

80% of the world’s catastrophic flood losses aren’t insured. That’s $58bn of uncovered damage, and it’s getting bigger each year because of climate change, population growth and urbanisation. FloodFlash is an insurance technology company that combines computer models, cloud software and internet-of-things sensors into flood cover that protects those the insurance industry has left behind. FloodFlash is the first parametric flood insurance available to the mass market. Each customer chooses a depth of flooding and how much they’d receive when floods reach that depth. When the smart sensor installed at their property detects flood water at the chosen depth, the claim is paid in full. Since the 2019 launch FloodFlash has been at the forefront of the global parametric movement. Their smart cover has set new standards for simple, transparent insurance, protecting thousands that can’t get cover anywhere else and winning over 30 industry awards. Founded by catastrophe risk experts Adam Rimmer and Dr Ian Bartholomew, FloodFlash has raised £2.1m in investment to date. FloodFlash is headquartered in London, is a registered coverholder at Lloyd’s of London and is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

ELEMENT Insurance is a white-label product factory for insurance and a leader in insurance digitalization. It is licensed by the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (Bundesanstalt für Finanzaufsicht) as a direct insurer for non-life insurance, which enables ELEMENT to act as a risk carrier, including claims settlement, in 28 countries across Europe. Founded in March 2017, ELEMENT offers a unique technology platform (‘Insurance as a Platform’) with a focus on the B2B2X value chain: ELEMENT develops for its partners from various industries – from e-commerce to established insurers – custom-made, innovative white-label insurance products at record speed. These products are then marketed by the partners under their own brand. ELEMENT has its headquarters in Berlin and operates across Europe.

Securitize is modernizing capital markets by enabling digital securities, making it easier for eligible investors to own, manage, and trade digital securities within designated capital markets for equity, funds, fixed income, and real estate. Securitize is the only SEC Registered Transfer Agent integrated with multiple regulated US-based marketplaces with a working protocol and live issuers. The company also offers KYC/AML and capital management services. Securitize, Inc. is not a registered broker-dealer and does not make any endorsement of offerings.

Crowdcredit is cross-border marketplace lending platform operator.  We provide risk capital to individuals and SMEs in financial deficit countries while we offer attractive lending opportunities to investors in financial surplus countries.  Currently, we are providing Japanese personal and SMEs investors with opportunities to lend to individuals and SMEs in Peru, Cameroon, Estonia, Finland, Spain and in Italy.  In 2016, Crowdcredit is aiming to start raising funds and also to start lending in Asian region outside of Japan.

Secret Double Octopus is the developer of a security authentication platform that offers end users and security teams the simplicity and security of robust password-less authentication. The company's platform provides high-assurance access to a variety of resources, including workstations, networks, cloud, mobile, and legacy applications, by replacing traditional passwords with a simple and secure password-free authentication process, allowing businesses to conduct and maintain their privacy efficiently.

Cozre the outing and the lessons of the babies and children, to solve the problem of child-rearing.

WealthNavi offers a platform for asset managers which uses risk management algorithm for asset management advice.

Idein with the aim of enabling all real-world events to be handled by software, applying pattern recognition and signal processing technologies that have made remarkable progress in recent years to sensing. We are working on the development of machine learning models, application applications, and speeding up inference. You can run the inference of trained models on inexpensive computers that are commercially available using acceleration technology. By calculating at the edge, only the necessary data can be taken out when needed, so sensing can be performed without worrying about data communication, privacy, and large-scale data processing problems. With these technologies, Idein will create a future where advanced sensing technology can be used more easily and cheaply. We are also developing our own products and services that make it possible to easily use these advanced sensing technologies in ordinary households.

Nuri empowers people to manage and grow their wealth through innovative technologies.

“FUEL Online Fund” is a platform that connects investors' needs for middle-risk / middle-return alternative investment and corporate funding needs online through a crowdfunding mechanism.

Moneytree is a fintech data platform, with a mission to bring people and institutions closer together, help them find balance and discover new opportunities to grow personal wealth. Moneytree's first product, a personal finance app for iOS released in 2013, won the App Store’s “Best of” award for iPhone in Japan after only 8 months in market. It went on to win Best of 2014 for iPad, was one of 10 Apple Watch apps featured pre-launch and a featured iMessage app on the launch of iOS 10. Moneytree has over 1,300,000 users on iOS, Android and web. Our proprietary data aggregation platform, Moneytree LINK, has almost twenty enterprise clients, including Japan’s two largest accounting software vendors, an industry first inbound API with Mizuho Bank, an SDK integration SMBC (Mitsui Sumitomo) and multiple regional banks in Japan.

Sony Financial Ventures is the wholly owned investment subsidiary of Sony Financial Holdings Inc.

<div> Sony Financial Ventures (SFV) is a venture capital fund under the management of Sony Financial Group and Global Brain. The fund focuses on investing in innovative technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, robotics, internet of Things, and visualization. As of February 2020, SFV had participated in a funding round for Securitize, a digital securities platform, which raised over USD 14 million in total. SFV's investment portfolio includes notable companies in the fintech and cybersecurity sectors. In February 2020, the fund invested in Securitize, a San Francisco-based security token issuance platform that aims to modernize traditional capital markets by enabling institutions to issue and manage tokenized assets. Another portfolio company is Secret Double Octopus, a cybersecurity firm specializing in passwordless authentication solutions for enterprises, which received investment from SFV as part of a funding round that included other corporate investors such as KDDI and Global Brain. In January 2024, Sony Ventures Corporation, which oversees all of Sony Group's startup investment programs, including Sony Innovation Fund and Sony Innovation Fund by IGV, underwent a leadership change. Gen Tsuchikawa, who had been with Sony Innovation Fund since its inception in 2016, transitioned from CEO to chairman of Sony Ventures. Kazuhito 'Kaz' Hadano, formerly deputy chief executive, assumed the role of CEO. This transition signifies Sony Ventures' commitment to continuing its work in partnering with startups developing transformational technologies across various sectors, including deeptech, AI, healthtech, and entertainment. </div>

Sony Financial Ventures

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