Digital Payments Firm Opn Becomes Japan’s Newest Unicorn After Raising $120 Million

Japan’s Opn said on Tuesday that it has secured $120 million in Series C+ funding, making it one of the few unicorns to emerge from Japan. The company says it will use the funds to scale up its business and expand to new countries.

“We are extremely excited and proud to bring on board this high-quality investment, allowing us to accelerate the development of our core payment solutions, while also expanding into new territories within our core markets of Southeast Asia and Japan and beyond,” Jun Hasegawa, founder and CEO of Opn said in a statement.

The latest funding came from investors such as JIC Venture Growth Investments, MUFG Bank, and Mars Growth Capital. Opn has raised more than $222 million in total funding to date. The latest investment also coincides with the firm rebranding itself as Opn. Previously, it was known as Synqa.

Opn was cofounded by Hasegawa and Ezra Don Harinsut in 2013, and first launched in Thailand in 2015. The company now has operations in Japan, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Vietnam. It currently has 500 employees that serve more than 7,000 merchants.

The company specializes in online payments, blockchain technology for fintech applications and digital transformation solutions. Its payment infrastructure is powered by its sister company, Omise Payment Holdings, that provides one-stop online payment solutions.

The firm recently launched Opn Tag in Thailand, a platform that allows merchants, such as restaurants and hotels, to receive payments through NFC3 and QR code technology. It also plans to launch several new services this year, such as Opn Mint that allows brands to create NFTs, Opn Store that creates an online store with integrated payment solutions, and a digital wallet that will be integrated to Opn’s platform.

According to research company CB Insights, Japan currently has five unicorns—a startup valued at more than $1 billion. Although its economy is the second largest in Asia, it lags behind other countries in the region such as South Korea and Singapore which currently have 12 unicorns each.