NEWS

NETSTARS Forms Capital and Business Alliance with Regional Marketing

NETSTARS Forms Capital and Business Alliance with Regional Marketing
Further accelerating business development of StarPay

NETSTARS Co., Ltd. (headquarters: Chuo-ku, Tokyo, Representative Director, President & CEO Tsuyoshi Ri; hereinafter “NETSTARS”) has formed a capital and business alliance with Regional Marketing Co., Ltd. (headquarters: Higashi-ku-Sapporo; Representative Director, President & COO: Shinya Watanabe; hereinafter “Regional Marketing”), which is a consolidated subsidiary of SATUDORA HOLDINGS CO., LTD. (headquarters: Higashi-ku-Sapporo; Representative Director, President & CEO: Hiroki Tomiyama; hereinafter “SATUDORA HOLDONGS”), and will perform third-party allocation of shares to Regional Marketing.

Furthermore, NETSTARS Director and COO Hisahiro Nagafuku will be appointed as Outside Director of Regional Marketing.

NETSTARS has focused on the shift toward cashless payment through the StarPay QR code payment service implemented in over 300,000 stores throughout Japan. The company is also focusing its efforts on mini-apps promoting store DX and the StarPay-Order mobile order service for restaurants.

The partnership will be further strengthened through the capital and business alliance with Regional Marketing, which is an OEM partner for StarPay, is promoting regionally-focused marketing and is creating a foundation for a “common platform in regional areas.” Through the alliance with Regional Marketing, NETSTARS aims to accelerate the roll-out of the StarPay business into Hokkaido and other regions. Furthermore, the technologies and know-how accumulated by the two companies will be combined in an effort to develop and provide new digital products.

Photo: from left, Regional Marketing Representative Director, President & COO Shinya Watanabe, SATUDORA HOLDINGS Representative Director, President & CEO Hiroki Tomiyama, NETSTARS Representative Director, President & CEO Tsuyoshi Ri and Director and COO Hisahiro Chofuku
Photo: from left, Regional Marketing Representative Director, President & COO Shinya Watanabe, SATUDORA HOLDINGS Representative Director, President & CEO Hiroki Tomiyama, NETSTARS Representative Director, President & CEO Tsuyoshi Ri and Director and COO Hisahiro Chofuku and CFO Gen Adachi

■ Comment from NETSTARS Representative Director, President & CEO Tsuyoshi Ri
Regional Marketing is an important partner that has worked with NETSTARS for many years to promote cashless payment in regional areas and expand new digital services. I am very pleased that we will be able to have a deeper involvement with Regional Marketing through this capital and business alliance with the aim of newly engaging the regional digital currency business and also leveraging our technological capabilities to realize digital portals that connect people and stores. We would like to create a wave of digital innovation in regional areas through greater cooperation between our two companies. We expect further developments to be made.

■ Comment from Regional Marketing Representative Director, President and COO Shinya Watanabe
We have received support from NETSTARS in many areas since we initially began payment services. It is essential to conduct business with a stronger relationship between our two companies than in the past in order to achieve further growth of Regional Marketing and the rest of the SATUDORA Group. We would like to use this capital and business alliance as an opportunity to better leverage the strengths of the two companies to create services that can resolve regional issues from Hokkaido.

■ About NETSTARS Co., Ltd.
The company has conducted a gateway business since it was founded in 2009. It became the first agent in Japan of the WeChatPay QR code payment service in 2015. Since then, it has operated the StarPay service enabling QR code payment services to be deployed and managed in Japan and overseas at once. At present, the company is engaged in diversified services based on the technological strength of StarPay.

■ About SATUDORA HOLDINGS CO., LTD.
Representative: Hiroki Tomiyama, Representative Director, President & CEO
Location: 4-1-20, Kita 8 Jo Higashi, Higashi-ku Sapporo, Hokkaido
Businesses: Formulation of Groupwide management strategies; fund management, procurement and public relations; corporate management of Group companies; promotion of Group compliance
URL：https://satudora-hd.co.jp/

■ About Regional Marketing Co., Ltd.
Name: Regional Marketing Co., Ltd.
Location: 4-1-20, Kita 8 Jo Higashi, Higashi-ku Sapporo, Hokkaido
Name and position of representative: Shinya Watanabe, Representative Director, President and COO
Businesses: Common point card business, payment service business, community business, media business, etc.
Capital: 141 million yen
Establishment date: August 19, 2013