BALLAS Raises 2.4 Billion Yen in Series B Funding

BALLAS, Inc. (Headquarters: Chuo-ku, Tokyo; CEO: Masayuki Kimura; hereinafter "BALLAS"), which mass-customizes the construction industry starting from the optimal procurement of construction materials, has raised a total of 2.4 billion yen in its Series B round, consisting of 2.1 billion yen in equity and 300 million yen in debt, with SMBC Edge and Z Venture Capital as co-lead investors. To accelerate the further growth of what has become the industry's largest online platform for construction materials and the development of AI products, the company is building a collaborative structure centered on operating companies and financial institutions. With this round, the total amount raised is approximately 4.3 billion yen. ■ Overview of the Funding Total of 2.4 billion yen [Equity Finance: 2.1 billion yen, Debt Finance: 300 million yen] Lead Investors (Allottees of third-party allocation of shares): SMBC Edge, Inc., Z Venture Capital Corporation Operating Company Investors (Allottees of third-party allocation of shares): JGC MIRAI Innovation Fund (*1), Sankyu-SBI Innovation Fund (*2), Daiwa House Ventures Co., Ltd., PERSOL Venture Partners LLC Financial Institution Investors (Allottees of third-party allocation of shares): SBI Investment Co., Ltd., Kyoto Capital Partners Co., Ltd., Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Capital Co., Ltd. Lending Financial Institution: The Shoko Chukin Bank, Ltd. *1 Limited Partners: JGC Corporation and JGC Holdings Corporation; General Partner: Global Brain Corporation *2 Limited Partner: Sankyu Inc.; General Partner: SBI Investment Co., Ltd. https://www.ballas.biz/series-b ■ Aims of the Capital Policy Through the operation of an online platform ("BALLAS SCM") participated in by construction companies as buyers and manufacturing factories as sellers, BALLAS designs, develops, manufactures, and sells construction materials that make up data centers, logistics facilities, plants/factories, commercial buildings, and more. In a massive market worth 75 trillion yen in Japan and 17 trillion US dollars globally, the company has implemented fundraising in stages, primarily through equity finance, since its founding to dynamically expand its business connecting construction companies and factories based on distributed supply chain data. In this Series B round, aimed at further amplifying the network effects of BALLAS SCM, which has become the industry's largest online platform for custom-made construction materials, and accelerating the development of AI products rooted in the industry domain, the company aimed to optimize capital efficiency through a combination of capital enhancement via equity finance centered on investors backed by operating companies and financial institutions, and debt finance. Through access to the strong customer bases of participating investors and promoting collaboration based on domain knowledge, the company intends to grow the platform into one that can contribute even more to the entire construction industry. ■ Industry Challenges and Business Progress to Date Structural growth of BALLAS SCM using modules. The construction market has grown by approximately 140% over the last 10 years domestically, driven by rapidly growing data centers, logistics facilities, and renewal demand. On the other hand, the number of supplying manufacturing factories has decreased by about 40% due to a shrinking workforce and difficulties in business succession. Against the backdrop of this structural gap, construction costs have risen by about 30% over the last 10 years, creating an external environment where reviewing the construction supply chain is inevitable. BALLAS SCM is a mechanism that standardizes custom-made construction materials, which are a bottleneck in the supply chain, as modules, allowing them to be used repeatedly while being customized. In workflows that conventionally relied on individual skills without data being capitalized, the company uses data in a way that can handle the custom nature of the construction industry, continuously improving QCD (Quality, Cost, Delivery) competitiveness. As a result, the GMV growth rate since Series A has been a CAGR of 130%. ■ Use of Funds and Future Prospects 1. Seamless construction supply chain