Rakuten Group announced the opening of a Rakuten office in the center of Kyiv. It is noted that currently three Rakuten companies (Rakuten Viber, Rakuten Advertising and Rakuten Rewards) have development and marketing teams in Kyiv and Odesa. The new Kyiv office will allow local teams to work together and increase development efficiency.

Rakuten’s plans to open an office came after Rakuten Chairman and CEO Miki Mikitani accompanied Japanese officials on a diplomatic mission to Ukraine in September 2023. Acting as a representative of Japan’s private sector, Mikitani met with leaders of Ukraine, in particular, with President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi and Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine and Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov.

Rakuten has big plans for its presence in Ukraine. The company intends to attract additional specialists in the technological sector. It is also planned to appoint a regional manager. It is expected that one of the next steps will be the launch of the Rakuten Viber digital wallet service in Ukraine after its successful implementation in several European countries. This service will provide Viber users in Ukraine with new financial services, including the ability to send money to and from the country using secure instant transactions.

Rakuten also announced plans to join the Ukrainian initiative “Diya.City” in 2024.