"Japan's Alipay" going public in the US countdown reportedly attracts Middle Eastern capital "national team"

CryptocurrencySniper · 2026-02-28T01:01:36+00:00

Qatar Holdings, Visa, and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority plan to invest over $200 million in PayPay's initial public offering, with PayPay's valuation potentially reaching $14 billion, making it one of Japan's largest IPOs. SoftBank aims to boost its appeal by bringing in cornerstone investors, and investment terms are still under discussion.

CryptocurrencySniper

2026-02-28 01:01:36

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Latest news shows that a group of global investors, including Qatar Holding, Visa, and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, are preparing to invest over $200 million as cornerstone investors in PayPay’s upcoming IPO.

PayPay was established in 2018 as a joint venture between SoftBank Group’s telecommunications subsidiary and Yahoo Japan (now LY Corp.), which currently hold a combined 66% stake. The remaining 34% is held by SoftBank’s Vision 2 Fund.

Currently, PayPay accounts for about 70% of Japan’s mobile payment market. Earlier this month, reports indicated that PayPay filed a registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) seeking to list on the Nasdaq in March.

Multiple sources recently revealed that PayPay’s valuation could reach as high as $14 billion, making it one of the largest IPOs by a Japanese company on a U.S. stock exchange.

Sources added that SoftBank Group aims to bring in cornerstone investors to boost the IPO’s attractiveness. The IPO was originally scheduled for December last year but was delayed due to the U.S. federal government shutdown slowing regulatory processes.

At the same time, sources emphasized that no final commitments have been made; the scale, terms, and valuation of potential cornerstone investments are still under discussion and may change in the future.

PayPay’s potential listing comes at a critical time when SoftBank is fully betting on artificial intelligence (AI). Just before this report, OpenAI announced a new $110 billion investment at a $730 billion valuation, with $30 billion coming from SoftBank.

Earlier, Caixin reported that to raise funds for AI investments, Masayoshi Son has sold billions of dollars worth of assets, including $5.8 billion worth of Nvidia shares and $4.8 billion in T-Mobile US stock.

To secure loans, SoftBank also collateralized assets such as Arm shares. Looking ahead, if PayPay successfully IPOs, it will provide SoftBank Group with a timely cash flow boost. (The last SoftBank-controlled company to go public in the U.S. was Arm Holdings.)

(Source: Caixin)

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