CashNews.co
By Makiko Yamazaki and Sam Nussey
TOKYO (Reuters) – Japanese payments company Infcurion is planning an initial public offering in Tokyo in 2025 as the company looks to accelerate its growth including through mergers and acquisitions, its executives told Reuters.
Last month Infcurion said it secured backing from Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group. The roughly 8 billion yen ($53.8 million) investment gives the company a valuation of more than 30 billion yen.
“We are planning to IPO next year and in doing so hope to firmly establish our presence, supplement our funds and execute including through mergers and acquisitions,” Kenichi Nogami, Infcurion’s chief financial officer, said in an interview.
Infcurion, which was founded in 2006, offers technology powering a range of payments services such as digital wallets and credit cards.
The company expects to be profitable in the current financial year ending March 31, as its credit card-issuing platform business has seen rapid growth in transactions, Nogami said.
The business enables companies to issue credit cards to their staff or clients and Infcurion has built close relationships with local banks.
Global competitors include Oakland, California-based Marqeta and Irish-American Stripe.
Hiroki Maruyama, Infcurion’s co-founder and CEO, said the company could potentially use proceeds from the planned listing to buy other financial technology firms to broaden the range of services.
“Instead of developing everything in-house, we’re at a point where we can add offerings to our platform through M&A,” Maruyama said.
While Japan has been a laggard in digital payments, the market is changing quickly and the company says it sees large room for growth, particularly in business-to-business payments, which still mostly rely on bank transfers.
Infcurion is also considering expansion in Asia, Maruyama said.
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Japan’s largest telecoms company Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp and railway operator West Japan Railway Co are also among its shareholders.
($1 = 148.6900 yen)
(Reporting by Makiko Yamazaki and Sam Nussey; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)