Lecto raises funds from four megabank VCs, bringing total funding to over 1.3 billion yen

Lecto, which promotes digital transformation in credit management operations, has conducted a third-party allotment of new shares in its Series A round, with SMBC Venture Capital as the lead investor, Resona Capital, Mitsubishi UFJ Innovation Partners, Mizuho Capital as new investors, and existing investors ALL STAR SAAS FUND and D4V (Design for Ventures). The company also raised funds through debt financing from financial institutions, bringing its total funding to over 1.3 billion yen.

Background of fundraising

The “Lecto Platform” provided by Lecto is a service that promotes digitalization in areas that have previously been dominated by analog operations, such as “debt management” and “collection,” and improves the experience for both “collectors” and “recipients.”

Since its launch in March 2021, the Lecto Platform has been adopted by a wide range of businesses and industries where payments are made, including financial services, subscription services, public services, real estate rental services, and telecommunications services, with the cumulative amount of receivables handled exceeding 47 billion yen (as of the end of October 2024).

In addition, the cumulative number of adoptions in the current fiscal year 2024 (November 2023 to October 2024) increased by more than 2.8 times compared to the previous fiscal year, and the platform is being used by a wide variety of companies and services, including SMBC Consumer Finance, Aioi Nissay Dowa Insurance, and Bridgestone Tire Solutions, a member of the Bridgestone Group, outside the financial sector.

In order to achieve further growth and achieve Lecto’s corporate mission of “eliminating financial friction and unleashing people’s infinite potential,” the company has raised these funds to strengthen their organization by hiring new personnel and strengthening their marketing.

Use of funds raised

1. Hiring personnel to strengthen the organization

In order to further expand the services of the “Lecto Platform,” the company will step up recruitment, aiming to double the size of its organization (to about 50 people) by fiscal year 2025. In particular, the company will actively hire sales staff to strengthen its sales capabilities, and will accelerate business growth by expanding its customer success and engineering organizations to improve post-implementation support and functionality.

2. Strengthening marketing

Although “debt management” and “collection and dunning” may seem unfamiliar at first glance, they are necessary tasks for various services that require payments. In addition, while digital transformation has been promoted in various fields since the COVID-19 pandemic, many of these tasks are still performed analoguely. In this environment, Lecto aims to expand the adoption of the platform by strengthening their marketing.

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