The Pulse
Replit Opens Tokyo Office to Expand Enterprise AI in Asia
Replit has opened its first Asian office in Tokyo as it expands its enterprise partnership with Sumitomo Mitsui Finance and Leasing. The company cites a project completed by one SMFL employee in a week, compared with six people working for
AI.info Team · Written with AI · fact-checked ·
Replit’s Tokyo expansion pairs a claim about faster software development with an explicit warning about the work needed to govern AI. The company says one employee at Sumitomo Mitsui Finance and Leasing completed in a week a project that had taken six people six months. Replit also says security and governance matter as AI takes on more responsibilities inside a company.
Tokyo becomes Replit’s first Asian base
Replit announced the office on Nov. 4, 2026, saying it will support the company’s growing enterprise business in the region. The move follows the opening of its London office in September. Replit announced the Tokyo office at a press conference with Sumitomo Mitsui Finance and Leasing Company, Limited, or SMFL, its first enterprise customer in Japan.
SMFL has operating assets of 9 trillion yen ($57 billion), according to Replit’s announcement. The companies are expanding their partnership to help more businesses across Asia build custom software with Replit’s AI platform. The announcement names SMFL President Tetsuro Imaeda and Replit co-founders Amjad Masad and Haya Odeh as participants in the press conference.
SMFL’s one-week project sets the pitch
Replit presents the SMFL project as an example of AI-assisted development reducing the time and staffing required for a software project. The company says a single SMFL employee finished work in one week that previously required six people over six months. The announcement does not describe the project’s scope or give a cost comparison.
“Our partnership with SMFL demonstrates how AI can transform the way companies operate. We believe the future is the Self-Driving Company, where AI agents take on more of the execution work, with security and controls built in. We're excited to help more companies across Asia make this transition.”
Amjad Masad, Co-Founder and CEO of Replit
Replit says the partnership will extend beyond the initial customer. SMFL plans to combine Replit’s platform with its enterprise expertise, and Imaeda said the companies aim to bring the capabilities to more businesses in Japan. SMFL’s in-house cloud-based asset-management service, assetforce, has already been developed.
Enterprise growth, alongside governance demands
Replit says its platform is used by builders in 85% of Fortune 500 companies. Its release lists Accenture, Visa, Ernst & Young and PricewaterhouseCoopers among enterprise customers, and says teams at Atlassian, Adobe and Databricks also use Replit to build apps. The company says it has partnerships with Google, Stripe and Slack.
The release also describes Replit’s own use of AI. In the first half of 2026, its engineers nearly tripled their code output, while designers are using AI to ship product changes and support teams are using agents to investigate issues. Replit says security and governance are necessary as AI takes on more responsibilities across the company.
Replit’s internal model and SMFL’s next step
Replit calls its approach the “Self-Driving Company,” with AI agents handling more execution work under security controls. The company says it is applying that approach internally while expanding its enterprise partnership with SMFL. The Tokyo office adds a regional base to the company’s San Francisco headquarters and London office.
For SMFL, the collaboration also concerns tailoring software to customer requirements. Imaeda said the partnership could help its assetforce service become more tailored to complex, company-specific needs. “We look forward to expanding our partnership and bringing these capabilities to more businesses across Japan,” he said.