E-commerce company Mercari has agreed to acquire Japan-based digital payment technology producer Origami for an undisclosed sum, allowing several corporate investors to exit, Reuters reported yesterday.
Founded in 2012, Origami has created a mobile app that enables users to pay for items by using a QR code in their smartphone. Mercari intends to integrate Origami into its own mobile payment business, Merpay, which it launched in 2017.
Merpay has some 5 million users and the acquisition will help it compete against the PayPay platform owned by internet and telecommunications group SoftBank, which is also one of the backers set to exit in the deal.
The company had received $88m in funding as of 2018 when it secured $66.6m in a series C round backed by systems integrator Nihon Unisys and payment services firms Mitsui Sumitomo Card Company, Union Pay International, JCB and Credit Saison.
Financial services firms Ogaki Kyoritsu Bank, SBI Shinkin Central Bank, Toyota Finance and Ogaki Kyoritsu Bank also took part, as did DG Lab Fund, which invests on behalf of internet company Digital Garage and brokerage Daiwa Securities.
SoftBank co-led Origami’s $13.3m series B round with Credit Saison and private Makoto Takano in 2015, two years after telecoms firm KDDI’s Open Innovation Fund and advertising agency Digital Advertising Consortium invested $5m in the company.
