PayPal to acquire Japan’s BNPL service provider Paidy for $2.7bn

PayPal Holdings announced that it is acquiring Paidy, a two-sided payments platform and provider of buy now, pay later (BNPL) solutions in Japan, for ¥300 billion or about $2.7 billion in cash.

In a statement, PayPal said the acquisition will expand its capabilities, distribution, and relevance in the domestic payments market in Japan, which is considered as the third-largest ecommerce market in the world.

Paidy’s payment services allow Japanese shoppers to make purchases online, and then pay for them each month in a consolidated bill at a convenience store or via bank transfer.

The company uses proprietary technology to score creditworthiness, underwrite transactions, and guarantee payment to merchants.

“Combining Paidy’s brand, capabilities, and talented team with PayPal’s expertise, resources, and global scale will create a strong foundation to accelerate our momentum in this strategically important market,” said Peter Kenevan, vice president and head of Japan at PayPal.

Following the acquisition, Paidy will continue to operate its existing business, maintain its brand and support a wide variety of consumer wallets and marketplaces.

Russell Cummer, founder and executive chairman of Paidy, and Riku Sugie, president and CEO, will continue to lead the Paidy team.

“Paidy is just at the beginning of our journey and joining PayPal will accelerate our plans to expand beyond e-commerce and build unique services as the new shopping standard,” said Sugie. “PayPal was a founding partner for Paidy Link and we look forward to working together to create even more value.

Cummer, on the other hand, said “there is no better home for Paidy to continue to grow and innovate than PayPal, which has been removing friction from online shopping for more than 20 years”.

“Japan has been a vibrant environment for our growth to date and we’re honored to have our team’s hard work and potential recognized by a global leader. Together with PayPal, we will be able to further achieve our mission of taking the hassle out of shopping,” he added.