xID

xID Inc., established in May 2012, is a GovTech company operating in Japan with a mission to lower the cost of trust in a digital society. The firm was co-founded by CEO Hikaru Kusama and CTO Sō Nagasawa. Drawing inspiration and expertise from Estonia's advanced digital identity infrastructure, xID aims to create a foundational digital identity service for Japan.

The company's business revolves around Japan's national identification "My Number card," providing solutions for both public and private sectors. xID offers a suite of products designed to streamline identity verification and digital interactions. Its business model is based on providing these digital tools to other businesses and government entities, which include local municipalities, financial institutions, and various service industries. The company has secured funding from several investors, including Dai Nippon Printing, DG Ventures, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, and Resona Capital.

The core offering is the "xID" application, a digital ID app that allows users to create a secure, portable identity linked to their My Number card. This app enables passwordless, multi-factor authentication for various online services, eliminating the need for users to remember multiple complex passwords or repeatedly input personal information. For enterprise clients and developers, xID provides the "xID API," an identity platform that allows for the simple implementation of online identity verification (e-KYC), authentication, and electronic signatures into their own services. This API helps businesses reduce costs associated with identity verification and enhance security against unauthorized access. Another key product is "SmartPOST," a digital postal service that facilitates secure digital communication from local governments to residents. The company also provides an electronic contract service, "e-sign," which leverages the xID platform for legally recognized digital signatures.

Keywords: digital identity, GovTech, My Number card, identity verification, e-KYC, public personal authentication, electronic signature, passwordless authentication, API platform, digital government, fintech, Japan, Hikaru Kusama, Sō Nagasawa, SmartPOST, e-sign, digital transformation, secure authentication, identity infrastructure, civil-private sector collaboration, data linkage, digital postal service