Visa invests in Japanese fintech company Paidy

Global payment technology company Visa has made an undisclosed investment in Japanese fintech company Paidy, which offers instantly-issued post-pay credit services for eCommerce shoppers in Japan.

Paidy said that the investment from Visa is part of its Series C funding round. For the same funding round, Paidy raised $55m in July with ITOCHU and Goldman Sachs leading the investment round. Before that, the Japanese fintech company secured $25m in earlier funding rounds.

Paidy is known to make online shopping easier for Japanese consumers by eliminating the need of using a credit card. The Japanese fintech company makes it possible for people to purchase online without creating an account or using their credit cards.

Customers can do their online transactions using a mobile phone number and email address, which then get authenticated by a four digit code sent through SMS. Purchases made by the customers are settled in a single monthly bill.

Visa made an undisclosed investment in Japanese fintech company Paidy. Image courtesy of punsayaporn at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Russell Cummer – Founder and Executive Chairman of Paidy said: “We are extremely honoured that Paidy’s business concept was highly valued by the world’s largest payment network, Visa. Through this tie-up, we expect to deliver Paidy’s frictionless and intuitive transactional credit to a much broader audience.

“Furthermore, by adding new payment functions and diverse financial services, together with Visa, we can promote our vision of removing barriers and create unique consumer experiences for as many people as possible.”

Visa, on the other hand, is looking to develop and support new payment methods with the world moving beyond plastic and towards digital mode of payment transactions.

In addition to its investment in Paidy, the global payment technology company will also be working closely with it on delivering new digital payment experiences to give more choices for Japanese consumers while buying goods either online or in-store.

Chris Clark – Regional President, Asia Pacific, Visa, said: “We have been following Paidy’s progress and the enhanced shopping experience they provide at the time of purchase.

“In Japan there is enormous opportunity to bring consumers more options to pay, whether all at once or in instalments, especially when shopping across multiple channels. We look forward to this partnership to deliver these kind of new experiences.”

Paidy claims that it has 1.5 million active accounts and it is looking to make that 11 million by 2020.