Japan mobile banking player gets $45m Series C

Additional contributions came from Altos Ventures, which primarily focuses on investments in the US and Korea, UK growth equity player Greyhound Capital, US financial technology specialist investor Broadhaven Ventures, and US-based VC firm Tekton Ventures. Rahul Mehta, managing partner of DST Global, and existing backer Jafco also took part.

This is the first time Greenspring, Partech, and Broadhaven have invested in a Japanese start-up.

Kyash, which was founded in 2015 and has now raised $73 million in private funding, will use the new capital to accelerate the development of its full-stack mobile banking business. The company hopes to benefit from government subsidies for cashless payments, which were introduced last October. Customers receive rebates of 2-5% on transactions, depending on the size and designation of the store. Japan wants 40% of all transactions to be cashless by 2025.

Kyash has launched its own prepaid Visa card, but its primary offering is an app that is used to manage an individual’s entire debt and credit card collection. The app tracks payments in real-time and enables the individual to set usage limits, impose restrictions on overseas and online payments, and even lock cards. Additional functions include commission-free payments between users.

Monthly spending limits on the three types of Kyash Visa card range from JPY120,000 to JPY1 million, with individual transactions and usage within a 24-hour period capped at JPY30,000-300,000. There is also an in-app rewards program.

“We are confident that our focus on developing proprietary payment technology and strategic merchant network partnerships continues to bring value to users and addresses the need for remote financial transactions in a digital economy,” Shinichi Takatori, Kyash’s founder and CEO, said in a statement.

AVCJ Research’s records show that Kyash received a JPY1 billion ($8.7 million) Series A round in 2016 from Jafco, Dentsu Digital Holdings, Itochu Corporation, Mizuho Capital, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, and SMBC Venture Capital. This was followed by a $14 million Series B last July led by Goodwater and Mitsubishi UFJ Capital. Shinsei Corporate Investment, SMBC Venture and Toppan Printing also took part.

Other recent investment activity in Japan’s mobile payments space includes a $143 million extended Series C round for Paidy, which closed last November. The company provides secure, real-time credit accounts that allow consumers to shop online and settle a single monthly bill using only a mobile phone number and email address.

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• Topics
• North Asia
• Technology
• Expansion
• Financials
• Japan
• Goodwater Capital
• Altos Ventures
• Greenspring Associates
• Fintech