Japanese C2C marketplace Mercari establishes centre of excellence in India

BENGALURU: Japanese consumer-to-consumer (C2C) marketplace Mercari Inc on Friday said it is establishing a Centre of Excellence here that will develop IT service solutions for its domestic business in Japan and the US.

The centre, to be fully operational next month, will house around 50 to 60 software engineers and other tech talent workers to develop IT service solutions.

Mercari said it is looking to grow its India operations as their third largest base following Japan and US.

"Mercari has been actively recruiting from India and at present, roughly 50 per cent of the engineers at Mercari's Tokyo office comprises non-Japanese engineers," said Ken Wakasa, Mercari.

"Over the next few years, we plan to increase our headcount to support Mercari's international endeavors and will look to recruit talent mainly from Bengaluru," Wakasa added.

Mercari recently launched a new business called Mercoin -- its crypto-asset and blockchain business -- and its logistics service, Merlogi.

The India Center for Excellence will provide tech support to these businesses as well, the company said.

"Strategic software development requirements for Mercari will be carried out at this Center of Excellence in conjunction with software developers at Mercari in Japan and the US," said Wakasa.