Cross Sector, a Japanese startup spun out of Nikon to automate measurements on construction sites, has closed a Series A round led by Animal Spirits. The company announced the round on 22 October 2026 in a release on PR TIMES, and The Bridge reported it the next day.
The company did not disclose how much it raised in the Series A. It said that, from its seed stage through the Series A, it has raised ¥770 million (about $4.9m) in total, combining equity with loans from financial institutions. It did not say how that sum splits between equity and debt or between rounds, and it did not name the lenders.
This was the first time Cross Sector had announced any fundraising. No valuation was disclosed.
What Cross Sector does
Cross Sector was set up on 19 March 2025 as Nikon's first spin-off and began operating on 1 July 2025. It is based in Machida, in western Tokyo, and is run by representative director Takashi Miyawaki. The company said it was formed to take precision measurement technology developed at Nikon into other industries.
Its service, Frame Finder, measures the position of steel columns while a building's frame is being put up. A site team first fixes a reference point with a conventional surveying instrument. Sensors attached to the column then track changes in the position of its top as the steel is adjusted, bolted and welded. The Bridge reported that the system uses the company's own VF-01 sensor, with four units fitted to each column to measure tilt.
Readings are saved to the cloud and can be viewed on devices at the site, and managers can use them to check progress and sign off work. In the company's own tests, measuring one column took 15 seconds instead of about 15 minutes. It said accuracy at the top of a 12-metre single-section column was within about 1mm under a set method, and the system holds a performance certificate from the General Building Research Corporation of Japan.
Who invested
The lead investor was Animal Spirits, through its Animal Spirits 26 investment fund. Nikon also invested, along with Coral Capital, Mizuho Capital, Sanshin Kizai, SMBC Venture Capital and MUFG Capital. Coral Capital said it had backed the company since its seed stage.
The release carried comments from Manabu Toguchi, a senior managing executive officer at Nikon who heads corporate strategy, and from Yusuke Asakura, managing partner at Animal Spirits. Nikon said it hoped the company would turn its measurement technology into a business.
What the money is for
Cross Sector said its first priority is to increase production of its sensors to meet demand from construction sites. It also plans to strengthen its organisation and to develop a mechanism that adjusts steel columns automatically.
As of October 2026 the system had been tried or demonstrated at more than 30 sites, mostly with large construction companies. The company is extending the technology to retaining walls, horizontal truss structures and bridges, and wants to add continuous monitoring of structures for maintenance work. Miyawaki set a goal of making the method an industry standard in Japan by 2028.
Company website: cross-sector.jp