According to Techcrunch, Stripe, the company that lets app publishers, online merchants and other digital businesses include payments features via a few lines of code, is expanding in Asia. After launching in Singapore two weeks ago, the startup is now officially opening for business in Japan. And alongside the Japan launch, Stripe is announcing a new investor. Sumitomo Mitsui Card Company, the largest credit card provider in the country, is taking a stake in the startup.

Sumitomo Mitsui and Stripe are not disclosing the amount that is getting invested, but it is strategic: the companies have been partnering since Stripe launched a beta of its service in Japan, in May 2015.

Sumitomo Mitsui, which was also the first partner for Visa in Japan (Visa is also a Stripe backer), is also working with Stripe on the full, official rollout. It's helping specifically in areas like multi-currency acceptance: merchants and other businesses in Japan can use Stripe to sell goods in some 130 different currencies -- a big advance on current offerings that are restricted to yen.

The lengthy beta period meant that Stripe picked up a number of customers before its official launch today: they include All Nippon Airways, e-commerce platform BUYMA, event app Peatix, and SmartHR. Globally, Stripe says it has around 100,000 customers, including large marketplace startups like GoFundMe, on-demand, mobile-first businesses like Lyft and Instacart, and many more.

Stripe takes a 3.6% commission on each approved card charge in Japan, similar to its basic rate in other countries; using its API is free.

The new service in Japan will also include fraud protection and other security features; and as with other markets, Stripe will also build a larger financial services ecosystem around its basic payments service to improve its margins.

Those other services include accounting, billing, security, and PCI compliance, as well as access to third-party technologies like Apple Pay and Android Pay.

Sumitomo Mitsui's investment is interesting because it comes on the heels of reports that the financial services company was looking to invest in rising fintech startups (in other words, there may be more to come).

As for what's next, Stripe is currently still in beta in Hong Kong, and Heffernan said the company is seeing a lot of interest in Southeast Asia from users (based in countries it currently supports), and it is 'in the very early stages' of exploring the market there. 'Asia will continue to be a primary focus for Stripe over the next few months,' he said.

Other investors in Stripe include Sequoia Capital, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Visa, American Express, Peter Thiel, Max Levchin, and Elon Musk.