Across most of Asia, people pay for taxi rides, restaurant meals and merchandise with smartphone-readable barcodes — except in Japan, where cash is still king.
Now, as the country's biggest web companies race to capture the payments market, one Tokyo-based startup says it has a fighting chance to win with its QR app.
Origami Inc. had a head start when it introduced a QR-code payment service in late 2015, and has since signed up fast-food chain KFC, Tokyo's largest cab company Nihon Kotsu Co. and convenience store operator Lawson Inc. The company raised $66 million in September to expand nationwide and plans to more than double its staff of about 100 employees, founder Yoshiki Yasui said in an interview.