Diversified trading group Itochu has invested an amount reported by TechCrunch to be $48m in Japan-based Paidy, bringing its overall investment in the post-pay credit service to $91m.
Paidy runs a consumer finance platform that allows users to buy products online and pay for them in monthly instalments. It said it has now raised $281m in debt and equity financing altogether.
The deal represents an extension to Paidy’s series C round, which closed at $143m in November 2019. Itochu took part in the $83m equity portion, as did payment services firm Visa and PayPal Ventures, the investment arm of digital payment processor PayPal.
Investment bank Goldman Sachs, Soros Capital Management, JS Capital Management and Tybourne Capital Management also supplied equity financing for the round.
Goldman Sachs Japan, Mizuho Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank provided the rest in the form of a $52m warehouse facility and an $8m credit facility.
Paidy had raised $15m in a 2016 series B round featuring Itochu, VC firm Arbor Ventures and financial services firm SBI as well as Eight Roads, SIG Asia and SBI Investment, subsidiaries of investment and financial services group Fidelity, quantitative trading firm Susquehanna International Group and SBI respectively.
The company had completed an $8.3m series A round the year before that included SIG Asia, Arbor Ventures, CyberAgent Ventures and Recruit Strategic Partners – on behalf of internet company CyberAgent and human resources firm Recruit – in addition to MS Capital and existing backers 500 Startups and Cherubic Ventures.
