Startale CEO Sota Watanabe
Singapore-based blockchain startup Startale Group has closed a US$63 million Series A funding round, led by a US$50 million injection from financial powerhouse SBI Group, with an additional US$13 million from Sony Innovation Fund.
The capital raise marks a significant leap for Startale’s ambitions to transform Asia’s on-chain capital markets and push the boundaries of blockchain adoption beyond niche use cases.
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At its core, Startale builds infrastructure and applications that bring traditional financial assets and services onto the blockchain, creating seamless tokenised securities trading, stablecoin payments, and consumer-facing blockchain solutions. The company is co-developing Strium, a Layer 1 blockchain platform tailored for institutional investors to trade tokenised securities and real-world assets (RWA) around the clock.
Meanwhile, Startale’s native stablecoins—JPYSC, pegged to the Japanese yen, and USDSC, tied to the US dollar—are central to providing smooth fiat-to-crypto gateways alongside innovative features such as onchain dividend and yield distribution.
The latest funding round solidifies Startale’s strategy to vertically integrate blockchain infrastructure, financial ecosystems, and consumer applications into a comprehensive stack. This is particularly critical in Asia, where the complexity of legacy systems and regulatory fragmentation have hindered blockchain’s broader adoption in finance.
SBI Group’s involvement is not new; it has been a strategic partner since 2025, working alongside Startale to co-create core products, including Strium and JPYSC. With over 80 million customers across securities, banking, and insurance, SBI’s confidence in Startale reflects the startup’s ability to deliver institutional-grade financial products on-chain at scale, promising a radical overhaul of how banking and securities operate in the digital era.
Yoshitaka Kitao, SBI Group’s Chairman and CEO, summarised the partnership’s potential succinctly: “By joining the SBI Group’s digital space ecosystem, I am confident we can accelerate the on-chain transformation of society and demonstrate a strong competitive advantage by driving a vertical integration strategy in the digital finance sector.”
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The growing adoption of stablecoins in Japan provides fertile ground for Startale’s ambitions. Japan’s regulatory environment has evolved to accommodate stablecoins, with growing institutional interest and consumer adoption driven by the need for faster, cheaper, and more transparent cross-border payments and settlements. The trust bank-backed JPYSC stablecoin is Japan’s first of its kind, offering greater legal certainty and security than many other stablecoins. This regulatory clarity, combined with the burgeoning demand for digital financial products, is rapidly accelerating Japan’s stablecoin ecosystem.
Startale intends to expand the adoption of JPYSC and USDSC across retail, enterprise, and institutional users. Their utility extends beyond simple payment instruments, providing functionalities such as automatic distribution of on-chain dividends and yields, integrating traditional finance’s value propositions with blockchain’s efficiencies.
In parallel, Startale is scaling Strium as an institutional-grade settlement and exchange framework for Asia’s trading of tokenised securities and real-world assets (RWA). This platform promises to enable 24/7 trading and real-time settlements, significantly enhancing liquidity and transparency compared to traditional markets tethered to business hours and manual reconciliation processes.
On the consumer front, Startale’s SuperApp platform is designed to abstract blockchain complexity behind a sleek interface that combines asset management, social features, payments, and “mini apps.” This unified experience aims to onboard millions of users to on-chain finance and the broader blockchain economy, further accelerating mainstream adoption.
This Series A round is also a testament to the growing convergence between finance, entertainment, and blockchain technology in Asia. Startale is building on partnerships with Sony that explore novel ways to integrate entertainment content and blockchain applications, carving out new user experiences and monetisation models.
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For Southeast Asia, a region ramping up blockchain adoption amid diverse regulatory frameworks and vibrant fintech ecosystems, the rise of companies like Startale signals a maturing market infrastructure. Providing scalable, compliant blockchain solutions that bridge traditional finance and on-chain systems will be crucial to driving regional digital economy growth.
By weaving together infrastructure, stablecoins, institutional offerings, and consumer applications, Startale is strategically positioning itself as a cornerstone in the emerging on-chain financial landscape. The Series A funding not only validates this approach but also injects the firepower needed to execute aggressive growth plans.
In short, Startale’s ability to deliver on-chain financial products at an institutional scale could redefine banking, securities, and financial services in Asia. The move towards tokenisation and stablecoin-driven ecosystems has the potential to drastically cut costs, speed up transactions, and open new avenues for investment and consumer engagement—ushering in a new era of digital finance.
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With the support of SBI Group and Sony, and Japan’s expanding stablecoin market, Startale is primed to lead Asia’s on-chain revolution.
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