株式会社Kyash

株式会社Kyash (Kyash Inc.) is a Tokyo-based financial technology company that operates the digital wallet app "Kyash." After downloading the app and registering with an email address or phone number, users can issue a Visa prepaid card — "Kyash Card Virtual" — without screening or paperwork, and use it at Visa online merchants; issuing the physical "Kyash Card" extends use to brick-and-mortar merchants across the Visa acceptance network. The app supports Apple Pay and Google Pay, Visa contactless (including via Samsung Pay), and funds can be loaded from bank accounts, credit and debit cards, convenience stores, Pay-easy, internet banking, and balances or points from linked services. Withdrawals are possible to bank accounts and via Seven Bank and Lawson Bank ATMs for identity-verified users.

Beyond payments, the product includes real-time transaction notifications, automatic categorisation of spending, budget setting and CSV export, free instant peer-to-peer transfers between Kyash accounts, shared/joint accounts for households and groups, card locking and configurable limits for online and overseas use, and a points/rewards programme (Kyash Points, Kyash Coin, Kyash Rewards). A deferred-funding feature, "イマすぐ入金" (Charge Now), lets users top up their balance and settle the amount at the end of the following month. The company also runs a corporate remittance product, "Kyash法人送金サービス," which sends funds to bank accounts or Kyash app accounts and is used for expense reimbursement, reward payouts and refunds.

Kyash is registered in Japan as a third-party prepaid payment instrument issuer (Kanto Local Finance Bureau No. 00698) and as a funds transfer service provider (No. 00082), is a PCI DSS certified operator, holds ISMS/ISO 27001 certification for its app and corporate remittance business, and belongs to the Fintech Association of Japan, the Japan Payment Service Association and the Sharing Economy Association.

Founding story

The company was founded in January 2015 by Shinichi Takatori, a Waseda University School of International Liberal Studies graduate who joined Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, working in corporate sales and then corporate planning where he set up overseas bases and studied domestic and international banking models through alliance strategy work with financial institutions. He subsequently worked on B2C new business at the Japanese and US offices of a US strategy consulting firm before founding Kyash around a concept for a next-generation currency.

Business model

Kyash issues Visa prepaid cards and operates a consumer digital wallet for payments, transfers and money management, and additionally offers a B2B corporate remittance service (Kyash法人送金サービス) used by companies for expense settlement, reward payments and refunds. It partners with banks, payment providers and platforms to distribute funding and payout functionality.

Consumer-facing account opening, card issuance, transfers between Kyash accounts and shared accounts are advertised as free; the wallet is built on card payment rails with in-house payment and ledger systems, plus a deferred-payment top-up feature settled the following month and a corporate remittance service positioned around reducing transfer fees.

Traction

Cumulative funding reached approximately 12.8 billion yen after the March 2022 Series D. The company reports roughly 120 members, an expanding set of funding and withdrawal channels including Seven Bank account linkage, and a growing corporate remittance business with partners and customers such as ALSI's BIZUTTO expense service and Pet's Value.

Latest developments

Recent announcements include a capital and business alliance with giftee (June 2026) aimed at accelerating value-transfer infrastructure in the corporate and municipal sectors, support for Visa contactless via Samsung Pay (April 2026), an Apple Pay charging feature (June 2026), Seven Bank account-linked deposits in addition to Seven Bank ATMs (July 2026), a business alliance with Loyalty Lab for automating reward payments and refunds (March 2026), and a numberless Kyash Card redesign (December 2025).