Diversified trading firm Itochu has led a $55m series C round for Japan-based post-pay credit service Paidy that included investment banking firm Goldman Sachs.
Paidy runs a service that allows users to purchase items online using only their mobile phone number and email address as verification, settling the bill at the end of each month through direct debit, bank transfer or by paying at local convenience stores.
The series C funding will allow the company to expand into offline services and increase the number of products it offers as it looks to grow its user base from 1.4 million accounts to 11 million by 2020.
Russell Cummer, Paidy’s founder and chairman, said: “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 to as many people as possible.”
CyberAgent Ventures, Recruit Strategic Partners and SIG Asia, respective subsidiaries of internet company CyberAgent, human resources provider Recruit and technology and trading firm Susquehanna International Group, all backed Paidy’s $8.3m series A round, which closed in 2015.
Venture capital firms Arbor Ventures, 500 Startups and Cherubic Ventures also contributed to the round, having previously supplied an undisclosed amount of seed capital for the company.
Itochu, SIG Asia and Arbor Ventures joined financial services provider SBI Holdings and its SBI Investment unit as well as Eight Roads, a subsidiary of investment and financial services group Fidelity, to add $15m in a mid-2016 series B round. It has now raised $80m in total, it said.