payments

Japan Airlines makes strategic investment in Episode Six

Norbert Gehrke

07 Mar 2025 — 2 min read

Episode Six (E6), a global provider of ledger and cards infrastructure, has secured a strategic investment from Japan Airlines (JAL), a longstanding customer of E6 since 2017. This investment allows JAL to contribute to E6’s ongoing success while advancing its financial services initiatives, including JAL Pay, the core payments feature integrated into JAL’s ecosystem, and expanding new offerings to serve JAL’s approximately 30 million customers.

“We are proud of our enduring partnership with JAL, one of our earliest customers in Asia, and deeply appreciate the trust and investment they have placed in our solutions,” said John Mitchell, Co-Founder and CEO of E6. “We are excited to strengthen our collaboration with JAL, both as a most valued customer and our newest investor, as we continue to deliver world-class products to JAL’s customers.”

“E6 has played a pivotal role in advancing our financial services initiatives, and we look forward to deepening our partnership through this strategic investment,” said Yoshiaki Yabugami, Director of New Business Development, Japan Airlines. “This marks the beginning of a new chapter as we work together to achieve groundbreaking milestones in serving the dynamic Japanese market.”

Since 2017, JAL and E6 have forged a trusted partnership fueled by a shared vision for innovation, a dedication to creating customer-centric products, and a mutual commitment to driving meaningful growth and transformation. Together, they have achieved notable accomplishments, beginning with the launch of JAL Global Wallet, a multi-currency wallet designed to enhance travel convenience and differentiate JAL in a competitive market. JAL Global Wallet has since been rebranded as JAL Pay. JAL Pay has continued to add to its features, such as bank debit top-ups, Apple Pay, Google Pay and SmartCode among others. With a robust JAL Pay roadmap in place, this partnership continues to deliver value, creating new opportunities for innovation and payments solutions across the entire JAL Group. These joint achievements underline the mutual trust and alignment between JAL and E6, paving the way for this strategic investment and the exciting opportunities ahead.

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