Fivot

What Fivot does

Fivot (株式会社Fivot) is a Tokyo-based fintech founded in October 2019 that operates a dual-product financial services platform targeting Japan's underserved lending and savings markets. Through its Flex Capital brand, Fivot provides venture debt, revenue-based financing (RBF), and invoice factoring (Flex Capital Invoice) to startups and growth-stage companies that lack access to traditional bank financing due to insufficient collateral or credit history. As of March 2026, Flex Capital has executed ¥158 billion in cumulative financing across 583 transactions supporting 464+ companies while maintaining a ~0.3% default rate. Its AI-powered credit assessment engine ingests alternative data (bank transactions, payment data, accounting records, and web data) via API integrations and uses LLMs to generate approval documents, enabling credit decisions in as little as 10 minutes and 10 business days — a capability traditional banks cannot replicate for thin-file startups.

Fivot operates IDARE, Japan's first Save Now, Pay Later (SNPL) app, a Visa prepaid card offering 2% annual bonuses on savings balances and goal-based automated savings, with users collectively setting ¥157.85 billion in savings targets. The company's business model combines transaction fees (interest, origination, interchange) with fund management economics as GP of the ¥31 billion RFC Venture Debt Fund 1号 (established November 2025 with Resona Bank as LP). Fivot also generates revenue from Nippon Life Insurance customer referral partnerships and is exploring white-label deployment of its AI credit technology via a PoC with Resona Bank's corporate lending operations. The company is regulated as a registered money lender, prepaid payment instrument issuer, and PCI DSS v3.2 certified entity, and has raised ¥2.5 billion in cumulative equity across Pre-Seed, Series A, and Series B rounds led by Angel Bridge with co-investors including Nissay Capital, DG Resona Ventures, SBI Investment, and SMBC Venture Capital.

Name

Fivot

Legal name

株式会社Fivot

Website

https://fivot.co.jp

Company type

Private

Founded year

2019

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Fivot is a Tokyo-based fintech operating Flex Capital (AI-powered venture debt and RBF for Japanese startups) and IDARE (a Visa prepaid savings app for consumers), serving 464+ startup borrowers with ¥158B in cumulative financing while maintaining sub-1% default rates.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Startup Lending & Consumer Fintech

NAICS

Credit Intermediation and Related Activities (522), Activities Related to Credit Intermediation (5223), Credit Card Issuing (52221)

SIC

Short-Term Business Credit Institutions (6153), Finance Services (6199)

akta.pro primary industry

Independent Venture Debt Funds / Platforms (FSANAIAB)

akta.pro secondary industry

Direct Lending — Venture Debt (FSAHAJAD)

Keywords

• Venture debt financing
• Startup credit assessment
• Invoice financing services
• Prepaid savings card
• Alternative data lending

Headquarters

HQ city

Tokyo

HQ country

Japan

HQ region

Asia

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. Flex Capital — Venture Debt: Venture debt financing provided to startups and growth-stage companies. Interest income and origination fees charged on debt facilities extended. No equity dilution for borrowers. Loans require no collateral or personal guarantees in principle.
2. Flex Capital — RBF (Revenue Based Finance): Revenue-based financing where startups sell future receivables (revenue stream) for immediate cash. Repayments are tied to a percentage of future revenue, aligning borrower and lender incentives.
3. Flex Capital — Invoice (Flex Capital Invoice): Invoice accounts payable financing service: Fivot prepays outstanding invoices on behalf of businesses, improving cash flow. Fees earned on the spread between face value and advance amount.
4. IDARE — Interchange Fees: IDARE is a Visa prepaid card with a 2% annual bonus on savings balance. Revenue is generated primarily from interchange fees charged on card transactions (paid by merchants), supplemented by campaign partnerships. The 2% bonus to users is a cost subsidized by interchange revenue.
5. RFC Venture Debt Fund 1号 Management / GP Economics: Fivot acts as GP (unlimited liability partner) of the RFC Venture Debt Fund 1号 (31 billion yen total fund size, with Resona Bank as LP). Fivot earns management fees and carried interest on the fund's lending operations.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Fivot runs two distinct fintech businesses. Flex Capital provides AI-powered debt financing (venture debt, Revenue-Based Finance, and invoice prepayment via Flex Capital Invoice) to Japanese startups and growth-stage companies without requiring equity dilution, collateral, or personal guarantees. IDARE is a Visa prepaid card-based savings-focused cashless app for individual consumers, paying a 2% annual bonus on the average monthly savings balance and offering automatic goal-based savings features. The company also serves as General Partner of the ¥31 billion RFC Venture Debt Fund 1 jointly established with Resona Bank.

Product overview

Fivot operates a dual-product fintech ecosystem comprising Flex Capital (B2B startup financing) and IDARE (B2C savings-focused cashless app). Flex Capital provides venture debt, RBF, and invoice financing with AI-powered credit assessment for startups and growth companies, while IDARE offers a Visa prepaid card with automatic savings and 2% annual bonus. The company also operates RFC Venture Debt Fund 1 in partnership with Resona Bank for expanded startup financing. These products create a capital circulation ecosystem supporting both business growth and individual asset formation.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Flex Capital: スタートアップのためのデットファイナンスサービス。ベンチャーデット、RBF（レベニュー・ベースド・ファイナンス）、請求書立替払い「Flex Capital Invoice」の3つのプロダクトを展開。
• IDARE
• Flex Capital Invoice

Products and services

• Flex Capital Startup-focused debt financing service providing venture debt, Revenue-Based Finance (RBF), and invoice prepayment (Flex Capital Invoice). Uses AI-powered credit assessment to lend up to ¥300 million per company without collateral, personal guarantees, or equity dilution, with review decisions within 10 business days.
• Flex Capital Invoice Invoice prepayment service that pays outstanding invoices on behalf of businesses to stabilize daily cash flow. Fivot advances the full invoice amount and earns a fee/spread on the transaction, supporting working-capital optimization for growth-stage companies.
• IDARE (イデア) Savings-focused cashless app combining goal-based automatic savings with a Visa prepaid card. Users earn a 2% annual bonus on their average monthly savings balance and can use the card at millions of merchants globally. Includes generative-AI-powered Sports Support Box for conditional automatic savings based on sports team performance.
• RFC Venture Debt Fund 1号 Venture debt fund established with Resona Bank providing growth financing for seed to mid-stage Japanese startups. Combines Resona Bank's venture debt handling experience (since October 2023) with Fivot's proprietary AI credit model and LLM-based data analysis. Fivot earns management fees and carried interest as GP.

Quantifiable outcome

• ¥158 billion cumulative financing deployed across 583 transactions to 464+ companies as of March 2026
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration2 records

AI capability7 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Resona Bank (株式会社りそな銀行)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 27 November 2025Jointly established RFC Venture Debt Fund 1号 (¥31 billion total fund size), with Fivot as GP and Resona Bank as LP. The fund provides venture debt to seed-to-mid stage Japanese startups. Additionally, both parties are conducting a PoC (proof of concept, through October 2025) to apply Fivot's AI credit review technology — automating loan application processing and approval document generation — to Resona Bank's corporate lending operations.
• Nippon Life Insurance (日本 생명相互회사 / 日本生命)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 5 November 2025Nippon Life (Japan's largest life insurer) entered a business collaboration agreement with Fivot alongside investing via Nissay Capital in Fivot's Series B. The partnership involves mutual customer referrals to expand startup growth support, and explores collaboration on venture debt market activation and private credit expansion using Fivot's AI credit models.

Scale indicators11 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Mercari: Tokyo-listed Japanese marketplace and fintech (Mercari Pay, Merpay, Mercoin) — relevant comparable as a Japanese consumer-facing fintech ecosystem that has expanded from payments into broader financial services.
• JAFCO Group: Japan's largest venture capital firm, providing both equity and increasingly debt/financing to startups; serves as the broad incumbent in Japanese growth financing that Flex Capital challenges with a pure-debt, AI-driven model.

Direct peers

• Clearco: Canada-headquartered Revenue-Based Finance provider for startups and e-commerce brands — directly comparable to Flex Capital's RBF offering in deal structure and target segment.
• SoFi Technologies: US-listed fintech operating a dual B2B/B2C model combining lending (student, personal, mortgage) with a consumer savings/wallet product — the closest international analog to Fivot's Flex Capital + IDARE capital circulation thesis.
• BlueVine: US fintech offering invoice factoring and lines of credit to SMBs with a tech-driven underwriting platform — a direct comparable to Flex Capital Invoice and venture debt in product design and target customer.
• Wayflyer: Ireland-based revenue-based financing platform for e-commerce and DTC startups, comparable in RBF structure and growth-stage startup segment to Flex Capital's RBF product.
• Money Forward: Tokyo-listed Japanese fintech operating both B2B SaaS (accounting/HR for SMEs) and B2C personal finance/wallet products — directly comparable dual-ecosystem play anchored in Japan.
• Kyash: Tokyo-based consumer prepaid card and wallet app — the closest Japanese competitor to IDARE in the prepaid + cashless + rewards consumer fintech category.
• Hercules Capital: Largest US publicly-traded specialty finance company providing venture debt to venture-backed technology and life-science companies — the most direct pure-play venture debt peer to Flex Capital's core product.
• Fundbox: US fintech providing invoice factoring and lines of credit to SMBs via API-driven underwriting — directly comparable to Flex Capital Invoice in product, target market, and AI-driven credit automation approach.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCzR3z5eHn5b0Z2nF1J6YGwQ

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds3 records

Investors15 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments2 records

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Fivot