INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
A month after announcing its $55 million Series C, Japanese fintech startup Paidy has snagged a strategic investment from payment giant
Visa.
Paidydidn''t disclose how much Visa put into its business, which has raised over $80 million to date, but it did say that it will
work with the credit card giant to develop &new digital payment experiences& in Japan.
For those in need of a refresher, thePaidy service is
aimed at making it easier to shop online in Japan, where credit card penetration is high but many consumers still opt for cash on
delivery.
The startup asserts that cash accounts for some 40 percent of the country 16.5 trillion yen ($150 billion) annual e-commerce spend
because credit card payments are cumbersome and cash is just more simple
It certainly true that whipping out your card and keying in digits is a pain, while Japanese systems layer on other security checks that
make the process more tedious.
Paidy&sanswer isan account tied to a customer phone number or email address that sits as a payment option at
Payment itself requires entry of a confirmation code, and that it
Added to the simplicity, Paidy also offers various payback options to effectively give users the features of a credit card.
The company
claims there are 1.5 million active Paidy accounts and it is aiming to grow that figure to 11 million by 2020
The main rocket for reaching that ambitious target is onboarding large retailers who integrate the service into their online sales process
That a tactic that has worked well for Paidy so far, but it alsoclearly an area where Visa network can be massively beneficial, especially
if they are joint products on offer.
With Paidy operating like a virtual credit card system that rivals plastic cards, Visa has seen
enough to warrant coming on board the project, according toChris Clark, Visa Asia Pacific regional president.
We have been following Paidy
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,& Clark said in a statement.
Paidy countsItochu Corporation, Goldman Sachs,Eight Roads — the investment
arm of Fidelity — SBI Holdings, SBI FinTech Business Innovation LPS, Arbor Ventures and SIG Asia as existing investors.
