Japanese e-commerce market gains $8.3m investment

Paidy, an e-commerce and instant credit platform operating in Japan, has announced that it has received over $8m in a Series A funding round, led by existing investors Arbor Ventures.

Paidy is a cardless e-commerce payment service for merchants that allows consumers to purchase products online using only their mobile phone number and email address. The e-commerce market in Japan is growing at a significant rate and with this new investment, Paidy are attempting to lead the pack of digital payment providers.

Paidy’s parent company Exchange Corporation K.K (ExCo) commented on the rise of digital payments in Japan:

‘‘We have experienced robust customer and retailer demand for Paidy since announcing our launch last year. The majority of all e-commerce purchases in Japan are now conducted on a mobile device, and nearly half of Japanese smartphone users purchase products on their devices as their primary method of shopping,’’ said  Russell Cummer, chief executive officer, ExCo.

The rise in online transactions has prompted new companies to invest in Paidy. Alongside regular investor Arbor Ventures is SIG Asia and MS Capital. Cummer states that the investment provided by the three companies ‘‘allows us to accelerate our product development and bolster our team.’’

The investment is just one of three new developments for Paidy. The e-commerce firm has also announced a partnership with major Japanese retailers. Stores.jp, Milleporte and Monoco are among a number of stores that will now be using Paidy to process their digital payments.

Stores.jp will ceratinly increase Paidy’s consumer reach, as the online retail platform has a membership of 200,000 merchants.

Paidy have also declared the appointment of SIG China managing director Tim Gong to its board of directors. The current managing director has worked in the FinTech sector for over 20 years and could be overseeing Paidy’s potential global expansion.

While we are currently focused on winning the Japanese market and securing our place as the cardless payments company here, we do have plans already to compete in other markets, both in and outside of Asia. The global experience of our board of directors and investors is a significant part of our plan,” continued Cummer.

 

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