Japan’s Paidy Closes Additional Series C For $281M Total Raised

Japan’s buy now, pay later (BNPL) startup Paidy announced it has closed a Series C extension funding round led by previous investor ITOCHU Corporation.

ITOCHU previously participated in Paidy’s Series B round in 2016 and its Series C round in July 2018, bringing its total investment in the startup to $91 million.

So far, Paidy has notched a total of $281 million in equity and debt, one of the largest amounts raised in Japan’s FinTech sector. The company said it will use the new funds to support its balance sheet and grow its business.

“Paidy has been successful in developing their business by offering a unique payment service with superb customer experience in the very competitive Japanese FinTech industry. We strongly believe that they will keep playing a critical role in our retail finance strategy as their one-of-a-kind credit examination has been creating a new type of trust, appealing to a wide range of customers,” said Shuichi Kato, executive officer and executive vice president of ITOCHU’s ICT and financial business company.

Kato added that Paidy has shown they can deploy quick remedies “in the inevitable battles against fraud” and advance the services offered.

“ITOCHU Corporation will further contribute to the growth of Paidy by supporting them in enhancing their management, human resources, merchant network and development of new services,” Kato said.

Paidy said it is striving to overhaul the service industry as well as Japan’s economy, and plans to add a cross-section of bigger merchants with flexible payment options, both online and offline.

Founded in 2008 by Lee Smith and Russell Cummer, Paidy has raised $224.6 million across seven funding rounds. Aside from ITOCHU, the company has also received funding from PayPal, Goldman Sachs and others.

“We are very fortunate that ITOCHU, our lead investor, has seen great potential in Paidy as a service, which takes the hassle out of payment and purchase experiences. eCommerce and payment businesses will continue to face various challenges considering the changing economic environment in Japan and globally, as well as other factors, such as unauthorized use. We are very honored to have received further support from Itochu Corporation with this most recent investment,” said Cummer. “We will continue to provide meaningful services by extending trust to people, and ultimately empowering them.”

Paidy started working with Amazon in November, and said it wants to “make a meaningful contribution to offer superior customer convenience on Amazon.”