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In an effort to accelerate its growth as a global tech player, Japanese e-commerce company Mercari Inc. is set to establish a centre of excellence (CoE) in Bengaluru, to leverage the company’s network between Japan and India to support international breakthroughs.
The centre, which will be fully operational in June 2022, will house around 60 software engineers and other tech talents to develop IT service solutions for Mercari’s domestic business in Japan as well as for Mercari US. Over the next couple of years, Mercari is looking to grow its India operations as their third largest base following Japan and the US.
“As a company that incorporates diverse perspectives, India will continue to remain a key focus area for Mercari, given the highly qualified and vast talent pool that is available in the country. Mercari has been actively recruiting from India and at present, roughly 50% of the engineers at Mercari’s Tokyo office comprises non-Japanese engineers," said Ken Wakasa, managing director, Mercari.
Strategic software development requirements for Mercari will be carried out at this CoE in conjunction with software developers at Mercari in Japan and the US. Being one of the largest e-commerce players in Japan, our focus is to create value in a global marketplace…Over the next few years, we plan to increase our headcount to support Mercari’s international endeavours and will look to recruit talent mainly from Bengaluru," he added.
In addition to its core businesses, Mercari has launched new businesses namely Mercoin, Inc. its crypto-asset and blockchain business, and its logistics service Merlogi, Inc. The India centre for excellence will provide tech support to these businesses as well. Mercari’s CoE in India will be a wholly-owned subsidiary of Mercari, Inc.