Key facts
- Nstock President Shoji Miyata said the platform aims to handle 20 billion yen ($126 million) in trades over three years.
- The platform lets startup employees sell stock options before an initial public offering, the report said.
- A May 2025 revision to Japan's Financial Instruments and Exchange Act created a Type I registration for brokering unlisted securities.
- Smartround Securities began operating on October 2, 2026, after registering in August 2026, per Japan FinTech Observer.
- JPXI invested about ¥300 million in Smartround and signed a non-exclusive MOU with it, Tradeinformer reported.
Japan's market for trading shares of unlisted startups expanded on Monday, November 9, 2026, when a new platform opened that lets startup employees cash out stock options awarded before an initial public offering, Nikkei Asia reported. The platform's operator, Nstock, said the aim is to ease pressure on young companies to list early.
Nstock President Shoji Miyata said the platform targets 20 billion yen ($126 million) in trades over three years, according to the report. The report did not name the platform or give the number of companies whose shares can be traded on it.
The opening follows regulatory changes that created a route for brokering unlisted securities. A May 2025 revision to the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act established a Type I financial instruments registration for brokering unlisted securities to professional investors under streamlined requirements, according to a Japan FinTech Observer report.
Smartround Securities, a unit of Tokyo-based startup equity platform Smartround, completed that registration in August 2026 and began operating on October 2, 2026, the Japan FinTech Observer report said. Tradeinformer reported that Japan Exchange Group's JPX Market Innovation & Research invested about ¥300 million in Smartround through warrants and a secondary purchase of shares from an existing holder, and that the two signed a non-exclusive memorandum of understanding covering private-share liquidity and data links.
Tradeinformer also reported that JPXI cited a Tokyo Stock Exchange study group that flagged illiquid pre-IPO shares as a problem for Growth Market companies, and that from 2030 Growth Market firms will need a ¥10 billion market cap after five years of listing to stay listed.