MUFG Bank and MUFG Innovation Partners (MUIP), both subsidiaries of MUFG, have invested in LayerX, a Japanese startup developing AI-based software.

Alongside the investment, MUFG Bank has signed a strategic partnership memorandum of understanding with LayerX to expand their collaboration.

MUIP’s contribution, made through the MUFG Innovation Partners No. 3 Investment Limited Partnership, follows its earlier participation in LayerX’s Series A round in 2023.

LayerX provides services including the AI cloud platform “Bakuraku,” which supports back-office operations, and “Ai Workforce,” designed to enhance efficiency and data use across companies and public institutions.

Led by CEO Yoshinori Fukushima and chief technology officer Yuki Matsumoto, the company works towards its mission of “digitising all economic activities.”

In 2024, MUFG Bank and LayerX entered into a business alliance centred on business spend management, offering Bakuraku to MUFG Bank’s corporate clients and gradually integrating it with MUFG’s own services.

MUFG Bank has also adopted Ai Workforce as part of its efforts to support knowledge sharing and internal business transformation.

The MoU formalises LayerX’s role as a key partner in MUFG Bank’s plan to integrate AI into its operations.

MUFG Bank and LayerX intend to continue developing services that support productivity in Japan through the application of generative AI.

MUFG has stated it will maintain and expand its collaboration with LayerX.

Featured image credit: Edited by Fintech News Hong Kong, based on image by Igor Omilaev via Unsplash