At a railway station, passengers search for an IC card. At an office entrance, employees tap an access pass. At an event, visitors unlock their phones and find a QR code.
Sinumy wants to remove these small interactions.
When a user approaches compatible equipment with Sinumy’s app installed, Bluetooth detects the smartphone inside their pocket or bag.
The system checks the entitlement connected to that device—such as a train ticket, event reservation, employee-access permission or payment account—and authorises the relevant service.
A passenger could walk through a railway gate without presenting a phone. An office door could open for an authorised employee. A visitor could enter an event without finding a QR code, while a shop could retrieve a previously registered payment method.
Sinumy does not issue train tickets or credit cards. It provides the authentication layer connecting a company’s app with its ticketing, access-control, reservation or payment systems.
The company describes the concept as a “human version of ETC,” referring to Japan’s Electronic Toll Collection system, which allows vehicles to pass through motorway toll gates without stopping.
¥555 million to move towards commercialisation
Osaka-based Sinumy completed a pre-Series A round in July, raising approximately ¥555 million—around US$3.4 million—through a combination of equity and debt.
Ten Japanese venture-capital firms participated, including mint, Theta Times Ventures, UTEC, Mitsubishi UFJ Capital and Kobe University Capital.
Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and Japan Finance Corporation provided debt financing.
Sinumy plans to use the capital to develop and prepare mass production of Bluetooth-enabled smart gates and smaller authentication terminals.
The company will also pursue joint development in railway transport, building access and payments while expanding its team.
Locating a smartphone within ten centimetres
Bluetooth is already used by devices such as wireless headphones and smartwatches.
The difficult part is identifying the correct phone in a crowded station or store where dozens of devices may be nearby.
According to Sinumy, its proprietary technology improves positioning accuracy from approximately 1.5 metres to around ten centimetres. It can recognise a phone while the device is asleep and does not require users to register biometric information such as their face or fingerprints.
In March 2026, Sinumy conducted an employee trial with Tokyo Metro and Toshiba at Shirokanedai Station on the Namboku Line.
The companies added the technology to an existing ticket gate and tested whether participants carrying smartphones with the dedicated app could pass without presenting their devices.
Sinumy has also tested the system for event registration, autonomous buses, office access, hands-free payments and security systems combining Bluetooth with facial recognition.
Accessibility beyond convenience
Removing a physical action is not only about saving time.
Taking out a card or phone can be difficult for people with visual or physical disabilities, wheelchair users, passengers carrying luggage and parents holding young children.
A system that verifies access as a person approaches could remove some of those barriers.
Sinumy has appointed industrial designer Shunji Yamanaka as its UI and UX adviser. Yamanaka contributed to the experience design behind tapping Suica cards at Japanese railway gates.
After helping make “touching” a card part of everyday behaviour in Japan, he will now work on an experience intended to remove the touch altogether.
The difficult part begins now
Most publicly announced Sinumy deployments remain trials.
Commercial adoption requires the system to identify the correct device when hundreds of people move simultaneously. It must avoid charging or admitting the wrong user and provide alternatives when a phone battery dies or communication fails.
The company must also demonstrate that it can manage proximity and location data responsibly.
Customers will face integration costs when connecting the technology to their existing apps, payment services and access systems.
Being more convenient than cards or QR codes will not be enough. Sinumy must prove that its system can reduce queues, staffing requirements or infrastructure costs while operating reliably every day.
The new funding will help Sinumy turn its technology into physical products. Its real test is whether approaching a gate can become as dependable as tapping a card.
SAKIME
East Asian startups, technology and international investment opportunities.
Web: sakime.jp
Author — Adrià Mas Rodríguez