Smooth raises ¥700M to make Japan's rising rental costs easier to pay
What's the deal? Tokyo-based startup Smooth has closed the first tranche of its Series C round at roughly ¥700 million ($4.3 million).
It lets renters split the upfront costs of a lease — deposits, key money, and agent fees — into instalments instead of paying a lump sum.
New investor JIC Venture Growth InvestmentsDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → led the round, with follow-on cash from existing backers Maezawa FundDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, XTech VenturesDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, and CyberAgent CapitalDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →.
The deal brings Smooth's total funding, including loans and working capital, to about ¥4.22 billion since its 2019 founding.
Why now? Rents are climbing across Japan, and so are the upfront fees tied to them.
Rents for single-occupancy flats in Tokyo's 23 wards hit a record high in 2026, according to the Nikkei. High move-in costs have topped the list of renter complaints for 10 straight years.
What could go wrong? Smooth is building a financing business, which means credit risk if instalment payers default.
Its model depends on rental agencies signing on. The company says partner stores grew about 2.5 times year-on-year, and cumulative LINEDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → sign-ups passed 470,000 — but scaling a lending operation profitably remains the test.
The signal: The arrival of JIC Venture Growth Investments — a fund tied to the government-backed Japan Investment CorporationDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → — alongside repeat backers like XTech Ventures and CyberAgent Capital signals institutional confidence in an early-stage company that is still proving out a lending model. For Smooth, that mix of public and private capital matters as it readies for a listing while building the financial systems a regulated instalment business demands.
Read more: PR Times
