Net Protections, a Japan-based payment automation service backed by corporate investors Hakuhodo DY Holdings, Infcurion, JCB and Ricoh Leasing, secured ¥1bn ($110m) on Friday at a $957m valuation.
Alternative investment firm York Capital Management’s investment advisory spinoff, My.Alpha Management, took part in the round, which also featured a secondary transaction involving the same investor paying $188m to acquire the shares held by private equity firm Advantage Partners.
Founded in 2000, Net Protections has built e-commerce payment products that help users finance their online purchases. In addition to its home country, it also operates in Taiwan.
Pavilion Capital invested $9.1m in the company in June this year, also buying shares from Advantage Partners for the same amount. It came two months after business development firm Infcurion injected an undisclosed sum.
Payment services group JCB paid $56.4m for a 10.2% stake in Net Protections in February 2021 at a $551m valuation. Marketing firm Hakuhodo DY Holdings provided an undisclosed amount for Advantage Partners in mid-2019 after leasing services firm Ricoh had done the same the previous month.
Advantage Partners originally invested in Net Protections in 2016, four years after financial services group Orix had supplied a similarly undisclosed amount.
