- Investors value Japanese payments app lined up for potential December IPO
- Overseas growth prospects seen as key to sustaining higher valuation
SoftBank is preparing to list its payments arm PayPay in the United States as early as December, with investors suggesting the company could be valued at more than $20 billion, according to a Reuters report.
Meetings with institutional investors began in mid-September, with 2 trillion yen viewed as a baseline valuation, the newswire said.
PayPay, which dominates Japan’s QR code payments market, has helped accelerate the country’s shift from cash by offering rebates and expanding into banking and credit cards.
The company recently said users would be able to make overseas payments, starting with South Korea. Analysts said the pace of PayPay’s international expansion will be crucial to how investors price its growth potential.
Japan’s move toward cashless payments continues to gain momentum, with transactions now accounting for over 40% of consumer payments.
SoftBank’s telecoms arm reported that operating profit in its financial segment, which includes PayPay, more than doubled to $119 million in the latest quarter. PayPay has also taken a 40% stake in Binance’s Japanese unit as it looks to expand its cryptocurrency services.