By Arasu Kannagi Basil and Utkarsh Shetti

March 12 (Reuters) - SoftBank's PayPay will

begin trading on the Nasdaq later on Thursday, after the

Japanese payments app raised about $880 million in its hotly

anticipated U.S. initial public offering.

The company pushed ahead with the offering despite the

conflict in the Middle East roiling global markets and weighing

on risk sentiment.

The U.S. IPO market has also struggled to find its footing

over the past month, with sharp market swings nudging some

companies to delay their listing plans.

PayPay and an investment fund controlled by the SoftBank

Group sold about 55 million American Depositary Shares

at $16 apiece, below the marketed range of $17 to $20. The IPO

valued the company at $10.7 billion.

"With new listings being priced lower to offer after-market

appeal, it increasingly looks we are in an IPO 'buyers' market'

where companies aim for stable debuts and a positive launch

story," said IPOX Research Associate Lukas Muehlbauer.

The IPO was initially expected in December, but the historic

U.S. government shutdown last fall delayed the regulatory

review.

PayPay marks the first U.S. listing of a SoftBank majority

​investment since the blockbuster 2023 IPO of chip designer Arm

.

The listing comes as SoftBank steps up its push into

artificial intelligence, including its "all-in" bet on OpenAI.

DOMESTIC STRENGTH

Jointly formed by SoftBank and Yahoo Japan in 2018, PayPay

entered the market by waiving transaction fees for small and

medium-sized merchants for up to three years to spur adoption.

The Tokyo-based company has played a vital role in

encouraging Japanese consumers to move away from cash by

offering rebates on its payments app.

Within years of its launch, PayPay achieved $100 billion in

gross merchandise volume and has become one of the most widely

used digital wallets in Japan. It had roughly 72 million

registered users at the end of 2025.

"The appeal of the company is that it's one of the few

fintech IPOs that have already won its domestic market... The

domestic strength gives the company some insulation from the

geopolitical, tariff and AI-related concerns weighing on many

other technology names," Muehlbauer said.

Japan still remains a global laggard in payments technology,

leaving ample runway for growth as digital adoption accelerates.

Initially focused on cashless payments, PayPay has since

expanded into credit, banking, securities and insurance to

become an all-in-one digital finance platform.

Last month, PayPay announced a partnership with card giant

Visa as it looks to expand into the U.S.

(Reporting by Arasu Kannagi Basil and Utkarsh Shetti in

Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)