Japan
SoftBank’s PayPay surges ahead in Japan’s digital payments race
For six decades, shoppers at Mikawaya, a rice dealer in eastern Tokyo, paid in cash – until sales staff from payments app PayPay swept through the low-lying district, persuad...
KKR-backed KnowBe4 valued at over $3.5 billion in strong Nasdaq debut
Cybersecurity vendor KnowBe4 Inc has joined a string of technology-focused companies that saw strong market debuts in the US this year, after its shares opened nearly 25% above the...
SoftBank Vision Fund seen posting record earnings on Coupang
SoftBank’s $100 billion Vision Fund is widely seen reporting record earnings on the 12th of May after portfolio companies listed during the quarter, mostly driven by gain on ...
Japan government halts use of message app Line for sensitive information
The Japanese government has decided to temporarily halt its use of messaging app Line, owned by SoftBank Corp’s Z Holdings, to handle sensitive information, Chief Cabinet Sec...
South Korean tech firms shake up Japan’s storied manga industry
Two South Korean platforms are borrowing from mobile gaming to shake up – and dominate – Japan’s manga industry, a plot twist that has expanded the comics’ ...
Invite-only chat app Clubhouse booms in Japan
Clubhouse is growing so rapidly in Japan, it now ranks first among free apps on Apple’s App Store in a test of its international viability following its latest funding round.
Hiring rapidly, US FinTech Stripe plots Asia expansion
US digital payments player Stripe intends to expand throughout Asia, including in Southeast Asia, Japan, China and India, after boosting its employees in the area by 40 percent to ...
Nintendo raises Switch forecast to 24 million units on pandemic gaming boom
Nintendo said it hopes to market 24 million of its Switch games consoles at the year ending March 2021, up from a forecast of 19 million but still regarded as cautious, since the C...
Japan to join forces with US and Europe in regulating ‘Big Tech’
Japan will combine forces with the United States and Europe to carry on almost any marketplace abuses by the four Big Tech platforms, the new mind of its antitrust watchdog has sai...
Toshiba targets $3 billion revenue in quantum cryptography by 2030
Toshiba has stated that it intends to generate $3 billion in revenue from its innovative cryptographic technology for information protection from 2030, as the Japanese sprawling co...
G7 vows to fight ransomware attacks; say stablecoin needs regulation
Fiscal leaders of this world’s seven biggest economies on Tuesday pledged to fight rising ransomware strikes amid the COVID-19 pandemic, also said no stablecoin surgery shoul...
Japan’s NTT launches $40 billion buyout of wireless unit Docomo
Japan’s state-backed Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp (NTT) stated it’ll take its wireless carrier business private in a deal worth 4.25 trillion yen (approximately ...
Nintendo digital subscriptions soar driven by ‘Animal Crossing’ fans
Nintendo has reported surging user numbers for its Switch Online subscription support, driven by hit titles like”Animal Crossing: New Horizons”, as the firm belatedly b...
SoftBank renews talks on taking the group private
SoftBank Group executives are considering carrying the Japanese tech group private as the company seeks a fresh plan after disposing of many large assets, the Financial Times has r...