{"id":130,"date":"2025-07-22T11:07:15","date_gmt":"2025-07-22T02:07:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.startupjapantoday.com\/?p=130"},"modified":"2025-07-21T11:16:21","modified_gmt":"2025-07-21T02:16:21","slug":"fintech-startup-focused-on-foreign-nationals-secures-seed-funding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupjapantoday.com\/?p=130","title":{"rendered":"Fintech Startup Focused on Foreign Nationals Secures Seed Funding"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Dwilar Inc. (Headquartered in California, USA; CEO: Yoshitaka Nakamura), the developer of \u201cDwilar AI,\u201d a credit assessment AI SaaS designed specifically for foreign nationals, has raised approximately \u00a5100 million (USD ~600,000) in seed funding. The round includes a SAFE (Simple Agreement for Future Equity) with existing investors East Ventures and Z Venture Capital, new investor 9 Capital, and several angel investors, as well as a credit line from financial institutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dwilar provides a cross-border credit platform that connects with credit bureaus in 42 countries and major open banking APIs. This enables foreign nationals to leverage their home country\u2019s credit history to access housing rentals and financial services in their new countries. Since the launch of Dwilar AI in February 2025, the service has grown rapidly, onboarding 12 companies in Japan and the U.S.\u2014primarily real estate agencies\u2014within just four months. The company reports a projected ARR of \u00a5120 million (USD ~780,000), maintaining a month-over-month growth rate exceeding 300% since launch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dwilar AI has gained traction as a service that optimizes and streamlines credit assessment processes for foreign customers. Given that domestic credit bureaus often lack data on foreign nationals\u2014resulting in blank reports even upon inquiry\u2014the company first focused on helping clients \u201cget to know their customers\u201d more effectively during the credit evaluation stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Looking ahead, Dwilar plans to expand beyond credit assessment to deliver a comprehensive AI agent service that automates and optimizes multiple aspects of relocation and overseas property acquisition. This includes assisting with property selection and streamlining administrative tasks related to contracts and applications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The AI agent will retrieve property information from real estate portals and partner websites, supporting customers in their selection process. Simultaneously, it will gather necessary data\u2014including credit history\u2014via voice guidance, ensuring all required information is ready before clients request meetings with real estate agents. For customers needing to open bank accounts or complete other procedures, the AI agent will proactively coordinate these tasks through partner companies and provide status updates to ensure a seamless experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Editor\u2019s Note:<\/strong><br>While it is typical for Japanese startups to incorporate domestically, there is a growing trend of founding companies in the U.S. to attract investment from American venture capital firms. Dwilar appears to be following this trajectory and is expected to actively seek funding opportunities from U.S. investors in subsequent rounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>[Source]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/prtimes.jp\/main\/html\/rd\/p\/000000005.000149219.html\">https:\/\/prtimes.jp\/main\/html\/rd\/p\/000000005.000149219.html<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dwilar Inc. (Headquartered in California, USA; CEO: Yoshitaka Nakamura), the developer of \u201cDwilar AI,\u201d a credit assessment AI SaaS designed specifically for foreign nationals, has raised approximately \u00a5100 million (USD ~600,000) in seed funding. The round includes a SAFE (Simple Agreement for Future Equity) with existing investors East Ventures and Z Venture Capital, new investor &#8230; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.startupjapantoday.com\/?p=130\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Fintech Startup Focused on Foreign Nationals Secures Seed Funding&#8221;<\/span> &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":131,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[9],"class_list":["post-130","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fintech","tag-seed-stage"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupjapantoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupjapantoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupjapantoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupjapantoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupjapantoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=130"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupjapantoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":133,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupjapantoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130\/revisions\/133"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupjapantoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/131"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupjapantoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupjapantoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupjapantoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}