Paidy Raises $55M In Round Of Funding

Paidy, the company that instantly issues post-pay credit accounts linked to mobile phone numbers, announced on Thursday (July 12) that it raised $55 million in a round of funding.

According to a press release, the company said the Series C funding round was led by ITOCHU Corporation, with participation from Goldman Sachs. The latest round of fundraising, combined with a Series A and B round, gives the company a total amount of $80 million capital raised to date.

Paidy, which started Japan’s first instant post-pay credit service for eCommerce consumers in October of 2014, requires no pre-registration or credit card to use. Consumers purchase products online using only a mobile phone number and email address, and settle a single monthly bill for all of their purchases, either at a convenience store, by bank transfer or via auto debit. Paidy also supports multi-pay installments and subscriptions. There are currently over 1,400,000 Paidy accounts in use, the company said in the press release.

“We are extremely honored that Paidy’s business concept was highly valued by one of Japan’s most prestigious business conglomerates, ITOCHU,” said Russell Cummer, founder and executive chairman of Paidy. “Through this tie-up, we expect to launch new merchants in order to deliver Paidy’s frictionless and intuitive financial solution to a much broader audience. Furthermore, by adding new payment functions and diverse financial services, thereby making our customer attachments much more robust, we aim to promote our vision of removing barriers and creating unique consumer experiences for as many people as possible.”

Paidy noted that through the launches of large merchants, expansion into the offline market and offering of additional financial services, it expects to grow its customer base to 11,000,000 accounts by 2020. In July of 2016, it raised $15 million in a Series B round of funding. Eight Roads Ventures (the investment arm of Fidelity), SBI Holdings and SBI’s FinTech Business Innovation, led the round.