Net Protections, MY. Agreed to raise approximately 1 billion yen from Alpha Management

Net Protections Holdings, Inc. (Headquarters: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; CEO: Shin Shibata; “Net Protections”) is preparing to increase its capital through an allocation of approximately 1 billion JPY underwritten by funds managed by one of the Asia’s largest investment advisors, MY.Alpha Management, an affiliate of York Capital Management Global Advisors, LLC.. In addition to the capital raise, funds served by Advantage Partners Inc. have sold shares of Net Protections to funds managed by MY.Alpha Management for approximately 1.7 billion JPY. As a result, the total amount of investments in Net Protections during 2021 has exceeded 8 billion JPY and the valuation of shares (※1) is over 106 billion JPY (※2).

※1）Paid-in price of 1,098.211 JPY per share multiplied by the expected number of issued shares (96,521,000 shares, on a fully diluted basis) after the fund raising.
※2）This fundraising and share transfer are subject to the completion of prior notification procedures and pending regulatory approval under the Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Act.

The investment advisor MY.Alpha Management is currently in the process of a spin-off from York Capital Management Global Advisors, LLC, a world-leading investment management company that manages assets of approximately $10 billion USD (around 1.1 trillion JPY) as of September 1, 2021. MY.Alpha Management is one of the largest Asian investment advisor spin-offs by an international firm, with assets under management of over $3.5 billion USD (around 390 billion JPY) as of September 1, 2021. Through this investment, MY.Alpha Management will seek to provide corporate management advice based on its global perspective. MY.Alpha Management invests in a range of companies based in Asia and pursues a long-term holding strategy built on beneficial partnerships.
Net Protections intends to use the funds raised to strengthen its financial base, build new features for its business and enhance promotional strategies.

“Net Protections was one of the first Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) companies to emerge in 2002 and ever since it has been a top player, driving market growth with a 40% share of BNPL payments in Japan and targeting a wide range of risk profile transactions by leveraging accumulated transaction data from more than 300 million transactions accumulated from over 20 years of operation. We are confident that the company will continue to be a leader in the BNPL sector in Japan by leveraging the strengths of its unique credit model that can reduce the rate of delinquent payments.
In particular, we believe that “NP Kakebarai”, a rare BNPL service for B2B, has promising potential to benefit from growth in customer numbers, penetration rate among the customer base, and sales growth from customer transactions.
Based on these factors, we were convinced that Net Protections can further accelerate growth with our investment, which led us to decide to participate in helping it raise capital. We’re looking forward to supporting the management team and achieving long-term business growth in BNPL, which has a large potential market.“

“We are pleased to be recognized as a leading company in Japan’s BNPL services sector, and delighted with the funds raised from MY.Alpha Management.
Working together with MY.Alpha Management and their extensive network and know-how gained from numerous investment achievements, we will accelerate the growth of our services and corporate value both in Japan and overseas. This investment provides more convenience than ever to our participating businesses and users.
With the mission of “Create New Standard,” we will continue to expand and grow our business as a leading company in the BNPL sector.“

Net Protections, Inc. is a pioneer company in Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) services in Japan and is leading the market with the largest market share (※4). In 2002, Net Protections launched its first service, NP Atobarai, a BNPL that guarantees risk-free transactions for businesses and provides a deferred payment for customers in Japan for the first time. In FY2020, NP Atobarai’s annual transaction volume has hit the growth rate of 116% compared to the previous fiscal year. NP Atobarai is used by numerous enterprises with over 15.8 million unique users in Japan (※5) and has processed more than 280 million transactions to date. In 2011, Net Protections released NP Kakebarai, a BNPL service for BtoB. NP Kakebarai has grown 127% yearly and played a role as the dominant BtoB payment service in Japan. In 2017, Net Protections launched atone, BtoC BNPL service with membership benefits that offers better shopping experience. In 2018, Net Protections released AFTEE, BtoC BNPL service in Taiwan. Net Protections has accumulated transaction data and knowledge since its first service launched, which has enabled it to build a sophisticated credit screening system and solid operation skills. Net Protections always pursues creating a society where everyone can do business safely and easily.

Company Name 　　　 ：Net Protections, Inc.
Representative　　　：Shin Shibata, CEO
Website　　　　：https://corp.netprotections.com/
Business Outline　　：BtoC E-Commerce Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) Service “NP Atobarai”
BtoB BNPL Service “NP Kakebarai”
BtoC BNPL Service “NP Atobarai air” for day-to-day services
BtoC BNPL Service with membership benefits “atone”
BtoC BNPL Service in Taiwan “AFTEE”
Reward Point Program: NP Point Club
Founded 　　　　：January, 2000
Capital 　　　：JPY 100 million
Headquarter 　　　：〒102-0083
SUMITOMO FUDOSAN KOJIMACHI FIRST BUILDING 5F, 4-2-6 Kojimachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 102-0083 Japan

※3）With reference to BNPL players (according to the “Expanding Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) Market Trends and Future Outlook” published by the Japan Research Institute, Limited on April 5, 2021) and the company’s survey research.
※4）Based on a survey conducted of 239 companies, consisting of Japan’s top 300 e-commerce companies (according to the “75th E-commerce and Mail Order Sales Ranking” published in the Tsuhan Newspaper on January 7, 2021, but excluding certain companies for which we do not believe payment-after-delivery services are commonly used, such as luxury brands and home electronics), 166 utilized third-party payment providers as of March 1, 2020, 49 offered in-house payment-after-delivery services and 73 did not utilize payment-after-delivery services.
※5）Source: Company information. The number of annual unique users is calculated as the number of NP Atobarai users during the fiscal year ended March 31, 2021 based on the matching of names and phone numbers.

Direct any inquiries regarding this release to:　Net Protections PR
EMAIL：pr@netprotections.co.jp