Mercari, the Japan-based operator of a peer-to-peer marketplace, has raised $75m in a series D round that included conglomerate Mitsui, TechCrunch reported today.
Mitsui was joined by financial services firm Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank, the state-owned Development Bank of Japan, Globis Capital Partners, World Innovation Lab and Global Brain.
The round, closed at a valuation of more than $1bn, makes the company Japan’s first pre-IPO unicorn.
Founded in 2013, Mercari runs an e-commerce marketplace app it claims has been downloaded 32 million times, seven million times in the US, where it launched in late 2014.
The funding will be used to fuel growth in the US and Europe, and to expand the range of services Mercari provides in its home market, chief financial officer Kei Nagasawa told TechCrunch. Mercari has now secured almost $115m in overall funding.
The company initially received $3m from internet company United in 2013 before pulling in $14m from Global Brain, Globis, and Itochu Technology Ventures and GMO Venture Partners, the respective investment subsidiaries of conglomerate Itochu and internet company GMO, in March 2014.
GMO Venture Partners, Global Brain, Globis, East Ventures and World Innovation Lab supplied an additional $22m in October the same year.