The human resources management software provider, which counts Digital Garage, Nissen and Tokio Marine & Nichido as investors, has secured $57m.

SmartHR, a Japan-based human resources software developer backed by marketing agency Nissen Group, insurer Tokio Marine & Nichido and internet company Digital Garage, raised ¥6.15bn ($56.8m) in series C funding yesterday.

The round consists of approximately $50.8m of equity funding and $6m of warrant bonds. It represents the first deal for investment firm Signifiant’s The Fund and the software-as-a-service (SaaS)-focused All Star SaaS Fund.

Hedge fund manager Light Street Capital also took part in the round, along with Coral Capital, which invested through a vehicle known as SmartHR SPV, as well as World Innovation Lab, Beenext and two unnamed entities.

Founded in 2015 as Kufu, SmartHR has built a cloud-based platform that allows human resources departments to manage employee benefits and services. It will utilise the series C capital for further business development, personnel recruitment and marketing in order to expand its customer base.

SmartHR has accumulated approximately $75.5m of funding to date, having most recently raised $13.8m in a January 2018 series B round featuring Tokio Marine & Nichido, Nissen and Coral Capital’s SmartHR SPV fund.

The company had collected $4.9m from World Innovation Lab, 500 Startups Japan and Beenext in 2016, following a six-figure dollar amount received six months earlier from DG Incubation, internet company Digital Garage’s corporate venturing arm, as well as Beenext and East Ventures.

Edison Fu

Edison Fu is head of Asia development at Global Corporate Venturing.