Trustbank

What Trustbank does

Trustbank Inc. (株式会社トラストバンク), founded in 2012 and headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo, is a regional revitalization platform company operating as a subsidiary of Change Holdings Group. The company operates four core product lines serving Japanese municipalities, corporations, and individual donors: Furusato Choice, Japan's largest hometown tax donation platform covering 1,700+ municipalities with 460,000+ return gift offerings; LoGo Chat, an LGWAN-compatible business communication tool adopted by 1,500+ municipalities; LoGo Form, a no-code electronic application system used by 800+ municipalities; and chiica, a blockchain-based digital regional currency platform that reached 1,000 billion cumulative points issued by November 2025.

The platform-plus-modules architecture generates revenue through a mix of transaction-based fees (3% commission on hometown tax donations under the 'Choice 3' tier, introduced in response to Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications requirements), recurring subscription fees for municipal SaaS tools (LoGo Chat, LoGo Form), and transaction/setup fees on chiica digital currency programs. The company also operates government cloud crowdfunding (GCF) within Furusato Choice, corporate hometown tax facilitation, and a fund distribution organization under Japan's Dormant Deposit Utilization Law. Trustbank also operates a dorm deposit allocation organization, distributing approximately 103.6 million yen to six regional social businesses.

Distribution combines direct-to-consumer self-serve access via the Furusato Choice website and app with enterprise field sales targeting municipalities, complemented by extensive OEM/white-label partnerships (ANA Akindo, AEON CARD, JRE MALL, HIS, etc.) and integrations with major Japanese payment platforms (PayPay, d払い, au PAY, MERPAY). Recent strategic priorities include AI-driven personalization (ChatGPT-integrated recommendation and chatbot features), blockchain/distributed ledger consolidation via subsidiary Orb integration, and expansion of return gift categories beyond traditional food products into cultural investment offerings through partnerships with CCC.

Name

Trustbank

Legal name

株式会社トラストバンク

Website

https://trustbank.co.jp

Company type

Private

Founded year

2012

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Trustbank operates Furusato Choice, Japan's largest hometown tax donation platform covering 1,700+ municipalities, alongside municipal SaaS tools (LoGo Chat, LoGo Form) and a blockchain-based regional currency platform (chiica), serving Japanese local governments, corporations, and individual donors.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Hometown Tax Donation & Municipal Government SaaS

NAICS

Grantmaking and Giving Services (81321)

SIC

Finance Services (6199)

akta.pro primary industry

Donor-Advised Fund (DAF) Sponsors (BPAGAKAF)

akta.pro secondary industry

Transfer Agent, Cap Table & Token Lifecycle Management (registrar, corporate actions, burns/mints) (FSAPAIAF)

Keywords

• Hometown tax donation platform
• Municipal government software
• Digital regional currency
• Corporate tax donation
• Government crowdfunding services

Headquarters

HQ city

Tokyo

HQ country

Japan

HQ region

Asia

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Hometown Tax Donation Platform Commission: Furusato Choice charges municipalities a platform fee for listing their hometown tax donation programs and return gifts. The standard fee structure includes a 3% commission rate tier ('Choice 3'). Municipalities pay to participate and receive donation processing services.
2. Municipal Government Software Services: LoGo Chat and LoGo Form are provided to Japanese municipalities as subscription-based services. LoGo Chat provides business communication tools with reported adoption across 1,500+ municipalities. LoGo Form offers no-code form creation for administrative digitization with 800+ municipal clients.
3. Digital Regional Currency (chiica) Platform: Provides digital currency infrastructure to local governments enabling point issuance, payment processing, and local economic circulation. Revenue generated from platform setup and transaction processing fees.
4. Corporate Tax Donation Facilitation: Enterprise version of hometown tax donation services connecting corporations with municipalities for charitable giving that provides tax benefits to companies.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion4 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Trustbank operates Japan's largest hometown tax (furusato nozei) donation platform, Furusato Choice, which connects individual donors with over 1,700 municipalities and processes billions of yen in annual donations. Beyond the donation marketplace, the company sells a suite of municipal-government SaaS products — LoGo Chat (business chat), LoGo Form (electronic application system), LoGo AI Assistant (ChatGPT-based chatbot), and chiica (blockchain-based digital regional currency) — plus a corporate hometown tax program for enterprises seeking tax benefits.

Product overview

Trustbank operates a platform-plus-modules architecture centered on regional revitalization services. The core platform is Furusato Choice (ふるさとチョイス), Japan's largest hometown tax donation portal with 1,700+ municipalities, which serves as the main consumer-facing product. This connects to a corporate tax donation module for enterprise users. Supporting the core are government digitization modules: LoGoチャット (1,500+ municipalities) for internal government communications, LoGoフォーム (800+ municipalities) for administrative procedure digitization, and LoGo AI Assistant for AI-powered citizen support. The fourth pillar is chiica (チーカ), a digital regional currency platform for local economic stimulation. Additional modules include disaster relief donation features, government crowdfunding (GCF), and electronic authentication services. These products are interconnected through shared municipal relationships and user accounts.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• ふるさとチョイス (Furusato Choice): 国内最大級のふるさと納税総合サイト
• LoGoチャット
• LoGoフォーム
• chiica（チーカ）
• ガバメントクラウドファンディング® (GCF®)
• TB base
• LoGoAIアシスタント

Products and services

• Furusato Choice (ふるさとチョイス) Japan's largest comprehensive hometown tax donation platform connecting individual donors with 1,600+ municipalities, offering 460,000+ return gifts from local producers, supporting disaster relief donations, and integrating multiple payment methods (credit cards, PayPay, d払い, au PAY, MERPAY, Amazon Pay, ChoicePay).
• Corporate Hometown Tax Service (企業版ふるさと納税) Enterprise version of hometown tax donation service helping Japanese companies find municipalities to donate to and claim corporate tax benefits while supporting regional development.
• LoGo Chat (ロゴチャット) LGWAN-ASP compatible business chat tool for local government agencies, enabling secure internal communication, photo/location sharing, and cross-municipality coordination for disaster response.
• LoGo Form (ロゴフォーム) No-code electronic application and form creation tool allowing municipalities to digitize administrative procedures, surveys and applications without programming knowledge.
• chiica (チーカ) Digital Regional Currency Platform Digital regional currency platform enabling local governments to issue and manage digital points/currency for economic stimulation, with Bank Pay integration and government Myna Point compatibility for up to 50% point redemption.
• Government Crowdfunding (ガバメントクラウドファンディング / GCF) Crowdfunding functionality within Furusato Choice enabling municipalities to raise funds for specific public projects with transparent use-of-funds disclosure; recognized with the 2019 Good Design Award.
• Furusato Choice Disaster Support Donation System Specialized platform enabling rapid deployment of disaster relief donation capabilities, featuring a proxy donation mechanism where unaffected municipalities collect donations on behalf of disaster-hit areas; has processed over 10 billion yen cumulative, including 20 billion yen for the 2024 Noto Peninsula Earthquake.
• My Number Card-Based Regional Specialty E-commerce Site (めいぶつチョイス) E-commerce site allowing purchase of regional specialty products using My Number Card identification, extending Trustbank's regional-producer ecosystem beyond hometown tax donations.

Quantifiable outcome

• Municipalities report 44-98 hours of administrative time savings per employee annually through LoGo Chat implementation
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration3 records

AI capability3 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• ANA AkindocoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 6 April 2026ANA Akindo and Trust Bank integrated their hometown tax systems to expand ANA's Hometown Tax platform coverage from 1,148 to approximately 1,500 municipalities, with a goal of eventually reaching over 1,600. The collaboration allows donors to support more local regions by linking municipal contracts from both parties.
• Culture Convenience Club Inc. (CCC)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 22 March 2026CCC and Trust Bank launched the 'Art for Hometown' cultural investment-type hometown tax project on Furusato Choice, offering artworks by regional artists as return gifts. In its first phase, nine artists collaborate with nine municipalities presenting 25 curated works as return gifts.
• Hokkaido Iburi-Hidaka Region 5 MunicipalitiescoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 13 December 2025Partnership between Trustbank and 5 municipalities (Abira Town, Urakawa Town, Shinhidaka Town, Tomakomai City, Niikappu Town) to promote sustainable horse industry development and regional revitalization. The region produces over 90% of Japan's light racehorse stock. Trustbank provides system support and information dissemination.
• General Foundation Japan Civil Activity Promotion Liaison Organization (JANPIA)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 7 October 2022Trustbank was selected as Japan's first private company to independently serve as a fund distribution organization (資金分配団体) under the Dormant Deposit Utilization Law, receiving approximately 103.6 million yen to support regional social businesses.
• Change Holdings GroupcoreOthersTrustbank is part of the Change Holdings Group, operating as a subsidiary. The group includes Change, Inc. (Japan's largest crowdfunding platform operator) and related companies.
• Regional Financial Institutions (Multiple)minorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorTrustbank has partnership agreements with regional financial institutions including Obihiro Shinkin Bank, Tokushima Bank, and others for sales promotion cooperation supporting regional revitalization through hometown tax.
• Toyota FinanceminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerStrategic partnership for digital administrative initiatives and regional activation utilizing automotive and mobility-related services.

Scale indicators11 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights8 records

Direct peers

• Satofull: KDDI/au's hometown tax donation platform, bundled with au PAY and telecom services to drive cross-ecosystem adoption. One of Furusato Choice's largest direct rivals in portal scale.
• JRE MALL Furusato Tax: JR East's e-commerce platform with a hometown tax donation vertical, leveraging transit-station retail reach and JRE Point loyalty to attract municipal partners and donors.
• HIS Hometown Tax: Travel agency HIS's hometown tax donation platform, leveraging customer travel data and experience-based return gifts as a point of differentiation versus Furusato Choice.
• Rakuten Furusato Tax: Rakuten Group's hometown tax donation portal, leveraging Rakuten's e-commerce ecosystem and Rakuten Points to compete directly with Furusato Choice for donor mindshare and municipal contracts.
• AEON (まいふる by AEON CARD): AEON Group's hometown tax donation service, distributed via AEON CARD payment products and the broader AEON retail ecosystem, serving as an OEM partner and direct competitor.

Broad incumbents

• Money Forward: Publicly listed Japanese fintech and SaaS provider spanning personal finance, business accounting, and enterprise back-office. Operates broader than Trustbank but competes for the same digital-transformation wallet across Japanese enterprises and government-adjacent sectors.
• freee: Publicly listed Japanese cloud SaaS provider offering accounting, HR, and compliance software for SMBs and enterprises. Broader scope than Trustbank but overlaps in serving Japan's digital government and SMB digitization tailwinds.

Others

• Culture Convenience Club (CCC): Operator of T-Point, Japan's largest loyalty point platform, and a strategic partner on the 'Art for Hometown' cultural investment-type hometown tax project. Relevant as a data/loyalty ecosystem partner rather than a direct hometown tax competitor.
• Change Holdings: Trustbank's publicly listed parent group, operating Japan's largest crowdfunding platform (Change, Inc.) alongside Trustbank. Serves as both capital sponsor and adjacent player in regional revitalization and social business funding.
• Bank Pay (Zengin): Japanese bank consortium smartphone payment service integrated into chiica's regional currency platform. Serves as payment infrastructure rather than a direct competitor, but a critical rail for chiica's expansion.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/trustbank_inc

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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

M&A

Investments1 record

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

Frequently asked questions about Trustbank