Sumitomo Mitsui Card invests in Stripe to expand to Japan

Sumitomo Mitsui Card Company, a large credit card provider in the country, has been partnering Stripe since the startup launched its service in the beta in Japan, in May 2015. The company is working with Stripe on the official rollout, in areas like multi-currency acceptance. Therefore, merchants and other businesses in Japan can use Stripe to sell goods in some 130 different currencies.

During the beta period Stripe picked up a number of customers before its official launch: they include All Nippon Airways, ecommerce platform BUYMA, event app Peatix, and SmartHR. Globally, Stripe says it has around 100,000 customers, including large marketplace startups like GoFundMe, on-demand, mobile-first businesses like Lyft and Instacart, and many more.

Stripe takes a 3.6% commission on each approved card charge in Japan, similar to its basic rate in other countries; using its API is free.