Nomupay, an Irish fintech startup, has secured a US$40 million investment from SB Payment Service Corp (SBPS), a group company of SoftBank Corp.

This investment values Nomupay at US$290 million and marks the start of a partnership between the two companies.

Through this collaboration, Nomupay aims to strengthen its presence in Asia by leveraging SBPS’s enterprise and merchant networks.

Additionally, the partnership will enhance SBPS’s payment offerings by integrating Nomupay’s single API platform, which supports payment acceptance, treasury, and payouts.

Founded in 2021, Nomupay has raised over US$120 million in four years, including a US$37 million funding round earlier this year.

🔗 Source: Nomupay

🧠 Food for thought

1️⃣ Asia’s payment market represents a massive growth opportunity requiring local expertise

The Asia-Pacific cross-border payments market, valued at $12.8 trillion in 2024 and projected to reach $23.8 trillion by 2032, demonstrates why companies like Nomupay and SBPS are forming strategic partnerships to capture this growth1.

The region’s payment ecosystem is notably fragmented, with each country developing distinct regulatory frameworks through bodies like the People’s Bank of China, Reserve Bank of India, and Monetary Authority of Singapore2.

This regulatory complexity creates significant barriers for foreign companies, explaining why Nomupay’s “single API” approach to simplify access is valuable. It addresses the technical challenges merchants face when navigating multiple payment systems simultaneously.

The partnership exemplifies a growing trend where payment companies combine complementary strengths: SBPS contributes deep Japanese market access and enterprise relationships, while Nomupay offers the technological infrastructure to connect disparate payment systems.

For merchants, the partnership potentially reduces the friction typically encountered when expanding across Asian markets, where previously they would need multiple licenses and face costly back-office processes to operate in each country.