What Payme does

Payme, Inc. (株式会社ペイミー) is a Tokyo-based Fintech/HR Tech company that operates a cloud-based salary advance (給与前払い) platform, enabling employees of partner companies to access earned wages before their regular payday. The service is offered as an employer-sponsored benefit and integrates with seven attendance management systems (Jobcan, AMANO, AKASHI, IEYASU, Xronos, King of Time, Win-Board) and four payroll systems (Jobcan Payroll, MF Cloud Payroll, Payroll DX, Salary Bongyo Cloud), as well as HR systems including SmartHR. Disbursements are routed through a Deposit Plan (デポジットプラン) backed by Seven Bank, GMO Aozora Net Bank, and SBJ Bank, with the Seven Bank option supporting 24/7 instant transfers. The platform is hosted on AWS with SSL/TLS encryption and holds ISO 27001 and JIPDEC Privacy Mark certifications; importantly, Payme received a 2018 confirmation from Japan's Financial Services Agency via the Gray Zone Resolution System that its service does not constitute money lending.

Payme monetizes via transaction-based fees deducted from employee salary payments and shares a recurring revenue commission with referring partners through its Agency Partner Program (代理店プログラム). Go-to-market is primarily direct enterprise field sales targeting HR and finance departments at companies with 300+ employees in industries such as staffing, food service, logistics, delivery, and light cargo — segments where long payroll cycles (often 55+ days for first paychecks) drive turnover. The company has scaled to 700+ enterprise clients and 140,000+ cumulative employee users with a headcount of 11-50, and has raised approximately $11.1M across three funding rounds (2017-2019) led by Incubate Fund with participation from CyberAgent, mixi, Dream Incubator, Crooz, and TLM. The Representative Director is Urabe Hiroki (卜部 宏樹).

Operationally, the company is a regulated-adjacent, integration-heavy enterprise SaaS business whose competitive positioning rests on regulatory clarity, broad system interoperability, and category leadership in Japan's early wage access segment. The model is asset-light (deposit-funded disbursement, transaction-based revenue), capital-efficient, and exposed primarily to Japanese labor market dynamics and the pace at which enterprises convert to offering daily/weekly pay as a recruitment and retention tool.

Name

Payme

Legal name

株式会社ペイミー (Payme, Inc.)

Website

https://payme.tokyo

Company type

Private

Founded year

2021

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Payme, Inc. is a Tokyo-based Fintech/HR Tech company that operates a cloud-based salary advance platform, enabling employees at 700+ Japanese enterprise clients to access earned wages before payday via integrations with attendance and payroll systems.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Salary Advance / Earned Wage Access Software

NAICS

Payroll Services (541214)

SIC

Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)

akta.pro primary industry

Instant Payouts & Earned Wage Access (EWA) (FSAMAKAM)

akta.pro secondary industries

Embedded Payroll, Earned Wage Access & Benefits Finance (FSAGALAI), Pay Card Programs & Earned Wage Access (EWA) Administration (BPACAIAK)

Keywords

• Salary advance service
• Earned wage access
• Employee benefits platform
• HR fintech software
• Payroll integration software

Headquarters

HQ city

Tokyo

HQ country

Japan

HQ region

Asia

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Transaction/Membership Fees: Payme charges fees to enterprise clients for processing salary advances. The company receives commission from the client company for transaction processing and manages advance payments. Fees are deducted from the employee's next salary payment along with the advanced amount.
2. Partner Referral Commission: Payme shares a portion of sales revenue with partner companies who refer new enterprise clients, creating a recurring/stock-based revenue share model.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Payme operates a cloud-based salary advance (給与前払い) platform that allows employees of client companies in Japan to access a portion of their earned wages before their regular payday. The service is sold to enterprises as an employee benefit, integrating with attendance management and payroll systems to automatically calculate available advance amounts based on actual worked hours. Disbursements are made via partner banks (Seven Bank, GMO Aozora Net Bank, SBJ Bank) with 24/7 instant transfers, and the advanced amount plus fees is deducted from the employee's next salary.

Product overview

Payme operates as a unified salary advance platform with its core Payme salary advance service (給与前払いサービス) as the primary offering, supported by the Deposit Plan (デポジットプラン) as the primary billing/payment structure. The platform includes a mobile employee app available on iOS and Android for employees to submit advance requests, and an agency partner program for distribution. The service integrates with multiple attendance management systems (Jobcan, AMANO, AKASHI, IEYASU, Xronos, King of Time, Win-Board) and payroll systems (Jobcan Payroll, MF Cloud Payroll, Payroll DX, Salary Bongyo Cloud) to automate eligibility calculations and reduce administrative burden for companies.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Payme Salary Advance Service (ペイミー 給与前払いサービス)
• Deposit Plan (デポジットプラン)
• Payme Employee App (iOS/Android)
• Agency Partner Program (代理店プログラム)

Quantifiable outcome

• Average wait time for first paycheck at new workplaces is 55 days, causing workers to switch to part-time gigs
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration14 records

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Seven Bank (セブン銀行)coreTechnology or IntegrationSeven Bank serves as the primary deposit bank for Payme's deposit plan, enabling 24/7 instant salary advances to employees. The partnership allows instant transfers for Seven Bank account holders.
• GMO Aozora Net Bank (GMOあおぞらネット銀行)coreTechnology or IntegrationAlternative deposit bank option for Payme's deposit plan, providing banking infrastructure for salary advance disbursements.
• Jobkan (ジョブカン)coreTechnology or IntegrationIntegration with attendance management and payroll systems. Jobkan provides both attendance management (勤怠管理) and payroll calculation (給与管理) systems integrated with Payme.
• Amazon Web Services (AWS)coreTechnology or IntegrationCloud infrastructure provider using AWS data centers for hosting Payme's platform, ensuring high reliability, security, and scalability for the financial service.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Others

• Infcurion: Japan-focused fintech building embedded finance and payment infrastructure. Adjacent to Payme via shared regulatory and banking-partner landscape and a potential embedded-payments partner.

Direct peers

• DailyPay: US-based earned wage access provider that lets employees draw earned wages before payday, monetized via employer-paid transaction fees. Highly comparable to Payme in product mechanics, target customer (HR/finance), and integration-heavy model.
• Wagestream: UK-headquartered EWA platform partnering with employers and banks to stream earned wages to employees. Directly comparable to Payme on financial-wellness positioning and employer-paid fee model.
• Even (Apparent): US EWA app offering on-demand access to earned wages with budgeting tools, sold through employers. Closely overlaps Payme's mobile employee app plus enterprise fee model.
• PayActiv: US EWA and financial-wellness platform sold through enterprise HR with bank and employer partnerships. Direct competitor in the same category with comparable integration and employer-paid economics.
• Advanced Pay: Japanese earned wage access / payroll advance provider serving hourly-worker-heavy industries. Closest domestic direct competitor to Payme with similar enterprise GTM.

Emerging players

• Earnin: US consumer-facing EWA app that lets workers access wages before payday. Comparable product mechanic but consumer-led distribution rather than enterprise sales, relevant as Payme considers direct-to-employee expansion.

Broad incumbents

• Money Forward: Japanese fintech leader in cloud accounting and HR/payroll, with adjacent salary disbursement features. A potential bundled competitor to Payme because Money Forward already sits inside Japanese employer finance stacks.
• freee: Major Japanese cloud HR/payroll SaaS provider. Could embed EWA into its payroll product and compete directly with Payme by leveraging its existing employer base.
• SmartHR: Dominant Japanese cloud HR and employment-contract platform already integrated with Payme. Could choose to launch or partner-built EWA features, posing both partnership upside and competitive risk.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/paymejp

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds3 records

Investors7 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Payme