Japan’s SBI Invests US$20m in Israeli API Startup OpenLegacy

Tokyo-based financial group SBI Holdings Inc has invested US$20 million in Israeli application programming interface (API) integration and software program administration firm OpenLegacy Technologies Ltd.

The financial group said the investment in OpenLegacy would help spearhead its two key strategic efforts in building internet banking across SBI’s growing portfolio of Japanese banks and instituting Moneytap, a blockchain-based payment application in Japan and globally.

The Israeli firm is engaged in the development and sales of API integration software that enables organizations to create microservices-based APIs to extend their core banking systems to the digital world, including the web, mobile, and cloud.

Founded in 2014 by CEO Romi Stein and CTO Roi Mor, OpenLegacy has 85 employees, 35 of them in its Tel Aviv and Petah Tikva offices. The latest funding brings its total funds raised to date to US$60.5 million. The firm raised US$30 million in November.

Using OpenLegacy’s platform, companies can create core system APIs without the typical cost, staff, time, and risk. Key features of OpenLegacy include the ability to bypass complex middleware and connect directly to the core banking system, automatically generating the APIs, and offering a variety of deployment options both on-premises and in the cloud.

“OpenLegacy will enable our portfolio companies to quickly launch digital innovations, integrating, leveraging, and extending our legacy systems in a fraction of time, all without changing the underlying systems,” said Yoshitaka Kitao, President & CEO at SBI Holdings.

OpenLegacy said several Fortune 500 firms, including Citi, Liberty Mutual, FIS, and BNP Paribas Cardiff, have adopted its platform.

Using this platform, financial institutions can easily achieve API integration with the smartphone money transfer app “Money Tap,” supplied by Money Tap Co., Ltd., a provider of next-generation financial infrastructure.

SBI Holdings will recommend using the company’s API platform, which facilitates the digital transformation of regional banks, which could lead to their revitalization.

After years of actively investing in venture companies in fintech and other growth fields, such as the IT, mobile and bio-life science sectors, the SBI Group said it is now equipped with a wealth of experience from investing in those companies and supporting their development.