Smartpay nets $7m to cut down Japan’s website cart abandonment rate

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At 89%, Japan has one of the highest website cart abandonment rates worldwide for merchants. This is much higher than the global average of 70%.

To help boost sales, local fintech firm Smartpay began offering buy now, pay later services in 2021. According to the company, Smartpay users have an average order value of US$240, which is over 40% higher than non-users.

Now, the company has raised US$7 million in a pre-series A funding round led by SMBC Venture Capital and joined by Angel Bridge, Matrix Partners, and Global Founders Capital.

Founded by Sam Pemberton Ahmed in 2020, Smartpay’s other services include a digital in-store payments service with free automated installments – which it said is the first in Japan – as well as Smartpay Bank Direct, which enables users to make online purchases from their bank accounts.

The company plans to grow its customer base to 2 million and merchant network to 30,000 within the next three years.

The new fundraise comes amid tough times for Asia’s BNPL industry, which have seen several closures in recent months. These include Bukalapak’s BukaCicilan offering, ShopBack’s PayLater service, and Atome’s exit from Vietnam.

Despite these woes, Indonesian tech major GoTo Group recently announced that it will soon roll out a BNPL service with TikTok as part of its efforts to drive top-line growth.

See also: Return of the Rising Sun: MUFG fuels rebound in Japanese investments in SEA fintech