Japan’s Mercari to acquire local mobile payments app Origami

Tokyo-based Merpay, the mobile payments unit of community-based shopping app Mercari, has reached an agreement to acquire all shares in rival payment app Origami.

Mercari CEO Shintaro Yamada / Photo credit: Mercari

With the stock transfer deal, which is set to take place on February 25, Mercari plans to merge the Origami Pay service into its Merpay brand. The acquisition cost, however, was not disclosed under confidentiality obligations between the companies involved.

“With the government’s support for the cashless movement, financial institutions, major telecommunications companies, IT companies, and more are entering the mobile payment industry one after another,” Mercari said in its announcement. “However, while cashless payment options are becoming more and more common in major chain stores, they still have not taken hold in small and medium-sized regional businesses.”

According to the statement, combining Merpay with Origami will not only provide benefits in terms of economies of scale, but also help promote a cashless society in Japan.

Origami was launched in 2016. In September 2018, it formed a capital and business partnership with Shinkin Central Bank (SCB) to focus on SMEs. SCB is the central bank of 256 Shinkin banks in the country, which are regional financial institutions serving SMEs and local residents.

In addition to the acquisition, Mercari and Merpay announced that they have formed a similar alliance with SCB. Mercari, Merpay, and Origami are now set to launch an initiative aimed at introducing Merpay to SMEs in the country.

Merpay was launched in February 2019. It says it has surpassed 5 million users in October last year.