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Japan’s NetPrice.com and Digital Garage jointly invest in Indian payments processor Citrus

Masaru Ikeda Masaru Ikeda
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Japanese internet company Netprice.com (TSE:3328) announced today that its Singapore-based investment arm, Beenos Asia, has invested in Indian payment processor Citrus. The investment was jointly made with Hong Kong-based econtext Asia (1390:HK), a payments solution company under Digital Garage (TSE:4819). Specific financial details of the investment are not disclosed. India is showing rapid growth in internet businesses these days, and broadband internet has been growing at an annual rate of 25% as of early 2013 [1]. The e-commerce market in India is growing by over 30% every year [2], and that trend has been helping Mumbai-based Citrus grow rapidly, as it provides e-commerce platforms and public service providers with credit card payments, bank transfers, debit payments, cash on delivery, and installment payments. Through this partnership, Netprice.com expects to stay ahead e-commerce trends and payment needs in the region. Our readers may recall that the company also recently invested in Turkish payment processor Iyzi Payments back in July, and made a joint investment in Jakarta-based payments processor PT MidTrans last year in partnership with Digital Garage. Citrus was founded back in 2011 by a group of software, UX, and finance professionals. They raised series B funding worth $5.5 million from Sequoia…

citrus_featuredimage

Japanese internet company Netprice.com (TSE:3328) announced today that its Singapore-based investment arm, Beenos Asia, has invested in Indian payment processor Citrus. The investment was jointly made with Hong Kong-based econtext Asia (1390:HK), a payments solution company under Digital Garage (TSE:4819). Specific financial details of the investment are not disclosed.

India is showing rapid growth in internet businesses these days, and broadband internet has been growing at an annual rate of 25% as of early 2013 [1]. The e-commerce market in India is growing by over 30% every year [2], and that trend has been helping Mumbai-based Citrus grow rapidly, as it provides e-commerce platforms and public service providers with credit card payments, bank transfers, debit payments, cash on delivery, and installment payments.

Through this partnership, Netprice.com expects to stay ahead e-commerce trends and payment needs in the region. Our readers may recall that the company also recently invested in Turkish payment processor Iyzi Payments back in July, and made a joint investment in Jakarta-based payments processor PT MidTrans last year in partnership with Digital Garage.

Citrus was founded back in 2011 by a group of software, UX, and finance professionals. They raised series B funding worth $5.5 million from Sequoia Capital earlier this month, following the previous $2 million in funding from the investment firm back in March.

  1. See Budde.com.au. ↩
  2. According to a survey by IAMAI, Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI). ↩

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Next in Line: Japanese messaging app makes a push for India

Rick Martin Rick Martin
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Yesterday Japan’s Line Corporation rolled out a Hindi version of its website (line.naver.jp/hi) as well as two new television commercials targeting the Indian market. This echoes the company’s previous strategy of winning new users in countries like Thailand, Taiwan, Indonesia, and Spain. Now with 180 million users, 45 million of which are in Japan, India represents an area of great potential for Line. According to figures from IDC, the nation’s smartphone market grew 74% from Q1 2012 to Q1 2013. That market is overwhelmingly dominated by Android, with budget handsets proving popular. Line’s expansion to date has been fascinating to watch. Back in April we heard the company’s CEO Akira Morikawa explain that their localization strategy does not involve establishing a series of regional offices. They are trying to be a sort of borderless company, in a way. Line will visit a region to do business of course, but the company does not feel a need to be there perpetually. You can check out Line’s new television commercials for India below. It remains to be seen how effective these will be, but based on the company’s track record and India’s growing love of smartphones, I expect things will go very…

line-website-hindi
Line’s website available in Hindi

Yesterday Japan’s Line Corporation rolled out a Hindi version of its website (line.naver.jp/hi) as well as two new television commercials targeting the Indian market. This echoes the company’s previous strategy of winning new users in countries like Thailand, Taiwan, Indonesia, and Spain.

Now with 180 million users, 45 million of which are in Japan, India represents an area of great potential for Line. According to figures from IDC, the nation’s smartphone market grew 74% from Q1 2012 to Q1 2013. That market is overwhelmingly dominated by Android, with budget handsets proving popular.

india-smartphone-market

Line’s expansion to date has been fascinating to watch. Back in April we heard the company’s CEO Akira Morikawa explain that their localization strategy does not involve establishing a series of regional offices. They are trying to be a sort of borderless company, in a way. Line will visit a region to do business of course, but the company does not feel a need to be there perpetually.

You can check out Line’s new television commercials for India below. It remains to be seen how effective these will be, but based on the company’s track record and India’s growing love of smartphones, I expect things will go very smoothly.

For more information on the growth of Line, please check out our interactive Line Timeline which chronicles its growth from its launch back in 2011 up until the present day.

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