Japan's VC-backed Metaps files for IPO

The company - which has received $52.5 million in funding to date - closed a $36 million Series C round from a group of undisclosed investors in February.

AVCJ Research data shows that prior to that it raised an $11 million Series B round in March 2013 - and a $5.5 million Series A in February 2012 - from Nippon Venture Partners, Fidelity Growth Partners Japan, Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Venture Capital, SMBC Venture Capital, among others.

According a public filing, the company plans to offer 1.15 million shares - potentially rising to 1.58 million if the over allotment option is fully exercised - at JPY3,300 apiece. The IPO, which will take place on the Mothers (market of the high-growth and emerging stocks) section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, is scheduled for August 28. The underwriting will be led by SMBC Nikko Securities.

Metaps was set up as E-factor in 2007 and launched its flagship artificial intelligence-driven app monetization platform in 2011. The company was sooned renamed after the platform. The business claims to have 100 million users and to have assisted over one billion app downloads. More recently, Metaps has developed Spike, an online payment solution platform that launched in November last year.

The company has eight offices globally and gets around 70% of its revenue from overseas. For the 12 months ended August 2014, Metaps reported a revenue of JPY2.27 billion versus JPY1.3 million the previous year. Meanwhile, it recorded losses over the same period of JPY510 million and JPY2 million, respectively.

Earlier this year the company said it planned to expand its product offering to reach 10% of the world's population - about 800 million people - by next year. Accordingly, it has focused on global expansion, hiring experts to improve it

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