Stripe will launch Stripe Capital, its business funding product, in Japan in 2027. It shared the plan at Stripe Tour Tokyo, a decade after entering the country.
More than 150,000 businesses and solopreneurs in Japan now use Stripe, including Toyota, Mercari and Sakana AI. Over 45,000 new firms joined in the past year.
“The challenge now is how to help the best of these businesses to scale faster than ever, as the global economy replatforms around AI,”
said John Collison, Co-Founder and President of Stripe.
Stripe Japan lending plans
The OECD has argued that Japan’s lending market holds back growth. In its view, too much money goes to small firms that are not growing. Those that could grow faster get too little.
With Capital, fast-growing firms that use Stripe for payments can borrow against future sales.
As Stripe sees their revenue in real time, it can skip heavy paperwork and long reviews. Firms repay a fixed share of their sales.
In a randomised study, Stripe found that firms that took offers grew 27 percentage points faster over the next year than similar firms that did not.
Separately, Stripe has agreed to buy Parafin, which lends to small firms through platforms such as DoorDash and Gusto.
Cross-border and local payments
A new service, Stripe Managed Payments, lets firms sell digital goods in 195 countries without a local entity.
Stripe takes care of indirect tax, disputes, fraud protection and customer support.
Within Japan, Stripe now offers five more QR code payment methods.
They are Rakuten Pay, d-Barai, au PAY, Merpay and Aeon Pay. Local firms can also take payments with Tap to Pay on Android.
Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Hong Kong, based on image by Stripe via its website.