Japan's Paidy tops up Series C round

Paidy received $143 million in Series C debt and equity last year from Itochu, Goldman Sachs, Visa, Eight Roads Ventures, PayPal Ventures, Tybourne Capital Management, Soros Capital Management, and JS Capital Management, the family office of Jonathan Soros, son of George Soros.

Itochu has now provided a total of $91 million to the company, which describes the conglomerate as its lead investor. Itochu has backed Paidy since a $15 million Series B in 2016 that also featured Eight Roads, Arbor Ventures, SIG Asia, and SBI Investment. Its latest contribution will support the development of end-to-end customer services across Japan and Taiwan.

Founded in 2008, Paidy 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. It is said to increase merchant revenues by reducing incomplete transactions, improving conversion rates, boosting average order values, and facilitating easy repeat buying.

“E-commerce and payment businesses will continue to face various challenges considering the changing economic environment in Japan and globally, as well as other factors, such as unauthorized use,” Russell Cummer, founder and executive chairman of Paidy, said in a statement. “We will continue to provide meaningful services by extending trust to people, and ultimately empowering them.”

Paidy is recognized as one of Japan’s most successful financial technology start-ups. Previous equity investors also include MS Capital, CyberAgent Ventures, 500 Startups, Cherubic Ventures, and Recruit Strategic Partners. Its competitors in the local mobile payments space include Kyash, which received $45 million earlier this month from a mix of global GPs, including Japan’s Jafco and US-Korea VC firm Altos Ventures.

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• Topics
• North Asia
• Financials
• Technology
• Expansion
• Japan
• Financial Services