Cross ID has secured approximately JPY 600m in funding

xID, a GovTech startup that comprehensively supports local governments and companies in solving problems and creating new businesses using My Number Cards and digital IDs, has completed a JPY 600m funding round.

This funding will be used to further expand its digital postal service, “SmartPOST,” which solves the challenges of municipal mailing operations, and accelerate its expansion into the private sector.

Background and Purpose of Funding

Since its inception in 2020, xID has pursued its mission of “realizing a digital society with low credit costs,” focusing on the public and administrative sectors. It has promoted initiatives to make My Number Cards more convenient and easy to use, such as its My Number Card and digital ID solution “xID” and its digital postal service “SmartPOST,” together with local governments and partner companies nationwide.

In Japan, which is experiencing a declining population, cost reduction and efficiency improvement through digital transformation are urgent issues, particularly for public services. However, in a society facing declining birthrates and an aging population, shifting all users (citizens) to digital is difficult. Therefore, xID believes it is necessary to improve convenience and operational efficiency while compensating for labor shortages through a hybrid model combining real and digital approaches.

Against this backdrop, “SmartPOST,” the digital postal service launched in September 2022, has been addressing challenges such as cost reduction and reduced workload in municipal mailing operations by utilizing My Number Cards. Currently, its adoption is accelerating nationwide, focusing on large-scale municipalities such as prefectures and designated cities, including Osaka Prefecture and Sakai City.

SmartPOST, as a BPaaS (Business Process as a Service) capable of enabling senders to centrally manage analog and digital notification methods and supporting various recipient methods, can be further strengthened to solve mailing operation challenges for private companies, particularly in the financial sector, as well as public entities.

Therefore, this funding round was conducted to strengthen and expand “SmartPOST” as a new social infrastructure for the digital age, alongside My Number Cards and digital IDs, making it a service usable by both public and private sectors.

Funding Overview

In this round, Hamagin DG Innovation Fund led the investment, and SMBC Bank participated with an investment from the main bank. We also received support from Resona Capital in this round to promote the future use of My Number Cards and digital IDs and strengthen the expansion of SmartPOST in the financial sector.

Going forward, xID will leverage its strengths in the public and administrative sectors to expand both businesses, particularly with public and financial sector operators.

Investor List

• SocioFuture
• Dai Nippon Printing (DNP)
• Hamagin DG Innovation Fund (operated by DG Incubation Co., Ltd.)
• Sumitomo Mitsui Bank
• Resona Capital
• Ryobi Systems

Company Business Status

Leveraging the experience and knowledge gained from specializing in My Number Card businesses, xID has provided My Number Card and digital ID solutions that are easy for businesses to implement while improving convenience for local governments and residents.

Currently, the “xID app” is available in all 1,741 municipalities nationwide, making it the largest nationwide My Number Card-linked app for the private sector. Furthermore, “xID for Developers,” focused on APIs, is used by over 100 partner companies, and xID also started providing the “xID SDK” this year, mainly to financial institutions.

Furthermore, the number of municipalities adopting “SmartPOST” has nearly doubled this year compared to last year, when large-scale municipal adoption began, and xID anticipates further increases in the number of adopting municipalities next year.

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