Buy now, pay later startup Payright has raised $27 million in a Series D

Payright co-founders Piers Redward and Myles Redward. Photo: supplied

Melbourne-based payment instalments startup Payright has raised $27 million Series D funding in a mix of debt and equity as it pushes to grab a bigger slice of the buy now, pay later retail market.

The three-year-old venture has now raised more than $55 million and says the latest round, led by corporate advisory firm Henslow with wealth manager Escala Partners, was oversubscribed.

Brothers Piers and Myles Redward launched Payright in 2016 seeking to target bigger ticket items, priced between $1000 and $20,000 (the average transaction is around $2500), including home improvements, dental, health and cosmetic procedures, offering repayment plans between two and 36 months. The venture now services 1500 merchants with a customer base of around 20,000 people.

Co-founder and co- CEO Myles Redward said the funds will be used to raise will be used to expand operations and enter new markets, along with ongoing technology investment.

“Payright has grown quite quickly in a short amount of time with a near-doubling of revenue quarter-on-quarter over the last 18 months and annualised volume now tracking at over $60M based on recent monthly run rate,” he said.

“Our team has expanded from three people to over 40, including a dedicated sales, technology and integration team, and operations and finance teams.”

Redward said the business is adding around 100 new merchants to the platform monthly and they’ve written 18,000 repayment plans valued at around AU$45 million.

While Payright doesn’t charge buyers interest, it costs up to $59.95 to set up an account, and there’s a monthly account fee of $3.50, plus a $2.95 processing fee on each repayment. The company pays the merchant on the day of the sale and then takes on the debt.

Co-CEO Piers Redward said the focus over the next 12 months is scaling the business and international expansion, beginning with New Zealand in the coming months.

“There is a clear growth in the buy now, pay later space in the addressable market – the opportunity is close to $300 billion in retail alone, and only a very small portion of this is currently being serviced by other players in the market,” he said.