Japanese payments fintech PayPay files US IPO

• Key insight: A Japanese payments app is seeking U.S. fintech investor capital through what is estimated to be a $2 billion IPO.
• Supporting data: Seventy-five percent of Japan's smartphone owners are registered PayPay users.
• Forward look: PayPay is also partnering with Visa to expand its payments services in the U.S. and globally.

The Japanese payments fintech PayPay has announced its long-awaited U.S. initial public offering.

The mobile payments app made public its F-1 prospectus filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday evening for Nasdaq's most restrictive listing tier, Global Select Market, under the ticker symbol PAYP.

The IPO, which was filed confidentially last August, could raise up to $2 billion, according to IPO research firm Renaissance Capital. The number of shares and pricing have not yet been disclosed by the company.

PayPay simultaneously announced a payments-focused partnership with Visa for "jointly pursuing PayPay's expansion into the United States as the first step in its global strategy," according to a company statement.

PayPay was founded in 2015 when its parent company, Tokyo-based global investment holding company SoftBank, partnered with Yahoo Wallet to launch its own mobile payments app. SoftBank publicly stated that an IPO was its goal for the payments fintech back in 2021, and reportedly started recruiting U.S. investment banks to that end in August 2025 when the confidential registration was filed.

"SoftBank is a regular issuer in U.S. equity capital markets and has a track record of significant success in listing its portfolio companies there," Mergermarkets Head of Global Equity Capital Markets Samuel Kerr told American Banker. "PayPay's sector, digital payments, is well known by U.S. investors, and SoftBank likely feels that this is where it will get the best pricing multiple for this portfolio asset."

The mobile payments app reported 72 million registered users in its public prospectus filing out of 96 million total smartphone users in Japan. Based on those figures, 75% of Japanese smartphone users are registered PayPay users as of Dec. 31, 2025. Of those registered users, 40 million, or 55%, conduct at least one transaction on the app per month.

Despite its significant market share in its native Japan, PayPay's lack of current U.S. operations may give some investors concern as to why it is pursuing a U.S. listing, according to Kerr. 

"While the U.S. is clearly an equity hub for financial technology companies where firms can achieve a valuation uplift to other markets, businesses without a significant U.S. operation often have a tougher time finding an audience," he said. "This can lead to newly listed companies becoming orphan stocks should they disappoint in trading."

Rudy Yang, senior emerging tech analyst for Pitchbook, said that fintech venture capital exits overall have rebounded over the last 12 months from their previous post-2021 drop.

"Investment banks are again reporting healthy deal backlogs," Yang told American Banker. "That has reopened the IPO window, but it's a narrow and highly selective one."

That reopening, according to Yang, is attracting international fintechs to the U.S. investment market because the country remains the "deepest and most sophisticated pool" of growth capital available.

"For many emerging market issuers, local exchanges may not offer the same valuation flexibility, institutional tech investor base or follow-on capacity," Yang said. "A U.S. listing allows them to position themselves as scaled, tech-enabled financial platforms rather than purely domestic financial institutions."

However, U.S. equity investor discipline is much higher than in prior cycles, according to Yang. 

"Public market buyers are demanding durable growth, earnings visibility and clear paths to profitability," he said. "We're seeing that selectivity reflected directly in pricing, deal sizing and post-IPO performance."

Other international fintechs that went public in recent weeks have seen mixed results that experts have attributed to factors such as standard post-IPO fluctuations and choppy market conditions.

PicPay, a Brazilian payments fintech, raised $434 million on its opening day but has since dropped by around 27% as of Friday. The Brazilian digital bank Agibank raised $240 million on Wednesday through a share sale at the bottom of its adjusted IPO, but has maintained its $11 per share debut trading price as of Friday.