株式会社ペイディ (Paidy)
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This entry sits under payment-firms INDEX. Read it against Rakuten Group financial businesses (Rakuten FG) for peer / contrast context and Three-Layer Structure of Japan's Stablecoin Regulatory Regime (JPYC, USDC, Project Pax) for the broader system / regulatory boundary.
TL;DR
Japan’s first full-scale BNPL (Buy Now Pay Later) provider. Established 2008-10 as the former Exchange Corporation Co., Ltd., renamed to Paidy 2018-09 社. Founder Russell Cummer (from the US). 2021-09-07 PayPal Holdings announced an acquisition for about 27 億 dollars (approx. 3000 億円), completed 2022 → became a PayPal Japan subsidiary. A “pay-later” model that allows payment with only an email address + phone number, with payment made later via convenience store, bank transfer, or account debit. About 100 万 merchants (Amazon Japan / SHEIN / Apple Store / Mercari, etc.). The Japanese-version position of the US’s Affirm / Klarna / Afterpay.
1. Company overview
Legal name: 株式会社ペイディ English name: Paidy Inc. Established: 2008-10 (formerly Exchange Corporation Co., Ltd.) Name change: 2018-09 → Paidy Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo (Roppongi) Parent company: PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: PYPL, fully subsidiarized 2022 ) Listing: Unlisted (the independent listing path ended with the PayPal subsidiarization) Founder: Russell Cummer (from the US, former Goldman Sachs)
Main service lines
| Service | Details |
|---|---|
| Paidy (pay-later) | Pay with email + phone number, pay in full the next month via convenience store / bank transfer / account debit |
| Paidy pay-later plan | 3/6/12 -installment / revolving (with a fee-free plan available) |
| Paidy Card | Visa virtual card, Apple Pay registration supported, usable at physical stores and overseas EC |
| Paidy Card Plus | Higher rank (real-card issuance, expanded usage limit) |
| Amazon Japan pay-later | Amazon’s official “pay-later” payment provider |
Key timeline
| Year/month | Event |
|---|---|
| 2008-10 | Established (formerly Exchange Corporation Co., Ltd., founder Russell Cummer, initially in businesses such as FX) |
| 2014 | ”Pay-later (Paidy)” service launched — Japan’s first full-scale BNPL |
| 2016〜2019 | Series B–D cumulative equity raising on the scale of tens of billions of yen (Goldman Sachs / Itochu / PayPal and others participating) |
| 2018-09 | Renamed to “株式会社ペイディ” |
| 2020〜2021 | Rapid growth driven by COVID + the EC boom, becoming a unicorn (valuation over 10 億 dollars) |
| 2021-09-07 | PayPal Holdings announced an acquisition for about 27 億 dollars (approx. 3000 億円) ★ — a high-value Japan fintech acquisition for the first time since the Apple-affiliated unicorn |
| 2022 | PayPal subsidiarization completed |
| 2023〜 | Became Amazon Japan’s official “pay-later” provider, expanded overseas EC merchants such as SHEIN |
| 2024 | Progress in integration into PayPal’s global strategy (strengthening linkage with PayPal’s domestic payments) |
Acquisition background: PayPal had a weak consumer presence in the Japanese market and aimed to conquer Japan’s EC by taking in Paidy’s instant credit-screening model based on phone-number authentication and its account-free BNPL UX. The acquisition amount of 27 億 dollars was one of the largest in Japanese fintech history at the time.
2. Business segment map
| Segment | Main business | Characteristics |
|---|---|---|
| BNPL lump-sum | Paidy (pay-later) | Email + phone-number authentication, credit-screening AI, merchant-fee model |
| BNPL installment | Paidy pay-later plan | 3/6/12 installments, with a fee-free plan available (consumer side) |
| Card | Paidy Card / Card Plus | Visa virtual, Apple Pay supported, higher rank is a real card |
Credit-screening model
- Phone number + email authentication: no bank account or credit card registration required, credit decision in as little as a few seconds
- AI scoring: calculates a dynamic credit limit from transaction history / device / behavioral data
- Pay-later collection channels: convenience store / bank transfer / account debit / Pay-easy
- Fee model: merchant-side fees (higher than credit cards) + consumer-side fees for installments (lump-sum is free)
Competitive map
| Competitor | Parent group | Position |
|---|---|---|
| Merpay pay-later | mercari-hd | In-flea-market-app BNPL, strong Mercari ecosystem |
| atone | Net Protections HD (TSE PRIME 7383) | Established EC pay-later, centered on mid-tier EC merchants |
| NP pay-later | Net Protections HD | The largest in BtoC pay-later (invoice-enclosed type) |
| Kuroneko pay-later | Yamato HD | Delivery-affiliated EC pay-later |
| AmazonPay / credit-card installment | Amazon / Visa / Master | A substitute candidate for existing credit-card installments |
Global comparison
- US Affirm: listed BNPL, partnered with Amazon US
- Sweden’s Klarna: Europe’s largest BNPL, global expansion
- Australia’s Afterpay: acquired by Block (formerly Square) 2022 (about 290 億 dollars)
Merchant strategy
- Amazon Japan official BNPL: the largest customer-acquisition channel, permanently set up as an Amazon “pay-later” option
- SHEIN / cross-border EC: fashion EC for Gen Z
- Apple Store: penetrating the younger demographic as installment purchasing for iPhone / Mac
- Mercari: a cross of flea market + BNPL (note: Mercari itself also operates Merpay pay-later within mercari-hd, both a competitor and a merchant)
4. Regulation / policy
- Supervisory authority: METI (registered as an Installment Sales Act / small-amount comprehensive credit purchase intermediary operator) + FSA (Payment Services Act related)
- Installment Sales Act amendment response (promulgated 2020-06 , enforced 2021-04 ): newly established the “small-amount comprehensive credit purchase intermediary operator” category → each BNPL company including Paidy became subject to registration. The AI credit-screening model was formally recognized
- Act on the Protection of Personal Information: handling of personal data related to credit screening based on phone-number + email authentication
Related
- mufg · smfg · mizuho-fg · mercari-hd · paypay-fg · sbi-hd
- bnpl-landscape · Installment Sales Act 2020 Amendment
Sources
- Wikipedia: 株式会社ペイディ (https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/ペイディ, 2026-05-19 extracted)
- PayPal Holdings 2021-09-07 Press Release: “PayPal to Acquire Paidy” (acquisition amount about 27 億 dollars)
- Paidy official corporate site history page (https://paidy.com/corporate/)
- METI “Act Partially Amending the Installment Sales Act” (promulgated 2020-06 , enforced 2021-04 )
[!info] Verification status confidence: likely (composed solely of v1.0 public information 2026-05-19). Key figures such as the acquisition amount of 27 億 dollars / establishment 2008-10 / renaming 2018-09 are via Wikipedia + PayPal’s official press release. The executive structure and latest merchant count are subject to point-in-time changes; PayPal parent company’s annual report (10-K) and Paidy’s official materials are the primary sources.