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SoftBank joins $13.3m Series B for Japan e-commerce app

  • Andrew Woodman
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Japanese tech giant SoftBank Group, credit card firm Credit Saison, and Makoto Takaono - editor-in-chief of Forbes Japan - have invested JPY 1.6 billion ($13.3 million) in Origami, a Tokyo-based mobile commerce platform.

Set up in early 2013, Origami claims to serve 800 merchants across various retailing sectors. The platform functions like a social media service by allowing users to follow the accounts of their favourite companies and brands. When they see a products they like they can makes a purchases from within the app.

The start-up has now raised a just over $18 million across two institutional rounds. Origami previously received $5 million from telecom player KDDI and digital ad agency Digital Advertising Consortium (DAC) in April, 2013.

According to a release, Origami plans to launch a new function to allow merchants to distribute vouchers, product samples, and discount coupons offline via SoftBank’s voucher issuing machine CouponGate. The company is also looking to leverage its new partnership with Credit Saison to develop new big data and payment-related solutions.

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