Japanese unicorn SmartNews raises $230m at $2bn valuation

SmartNews, the Japanese news aggregator that became a unicorn in 2019, announced raising $230 million in its Series F funding round that values the media unicorn at $2 billion.

As per the announcement, the Series F investors represent a broad range of strategies and geographies. It includes new investors Princeville Capital and Woodline Partners, based in the US, as well as JIC Venture Growth Investments, Green Co-Invest Investment, and Yamauchi-No.10 Family Office in Japan.

Existing investors who also participated in this round include ACA Investments and SMBC Venture Capital.

Founded in 2012, SmartNews provides aggregated news to millions of users through its machine learning technology and relationships with over 3,000 global publisher partners.

The company said it will use the additional capital to double its headcount in the US, adding engineers and leaders, particularly in Silicon Valley, New York, and San Francisco. It will also invest to further expand its product offering in the US.

SmartNews is already working on a range of new product features focused on consumer health and safety to be released over the next several months.

“This latest round of funding further affirms the strength of our mission, and fuels our drive to expand our drive to expand our presence and launch features that specifically appeal to users and publishers in the US,” said Ken Suzuki, CEO and co-founder of SmartNews.

SmartNews has been the number one news app in Japan for multiple years running. In the US, it achieved the highest monthly user time spent among all news apps and saw its monthly active users double in 2020.

Since its last funding round in 2019, the company has more than doubled its headcount to approximately 500 globally.

“The US market will be a touchstone for further growth as we contribute to shaping a better future for quality journalism and exceptional information delivery on a global scale,” Suzuki added.