Australian-founded, Europe-focused buy-now-pay-later startup Scalapay has raised A$692 million in a debt and equity Series B. The round was led by Chinese tech powerhouse Tencent and US VC Willoughby Capital, with participation from existing backer Tiger Global, Gangwal, Moore Capital, Deimos, and Fasanara Capital. The fintech already hit unicorn status last year following a $210… Read more »
Buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) fintechs have built their brands over the last several years selling the convenience of “budgeting” your expenses. You can have your cake now, eat it too, then pay it off over 4 interest-free payments. But there’s been growing concerns about the sector, with nearly two-thirds of Australian financial counsellors supporting clients struggling with… Read more »
Buy now, pay later (BNPL) companies were among the stock market darlings of 2020 – and nowhere more than in Australia, the birthplace of pioneering companies Afterpay and Zip Co. There are 15 BNPL companies listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), more than any other exchange in the world. But if you took a… Read more »
The honeymoon for buy now pay later (BNPL) fintechs continues to sour with Zip (ASX: Z1p) shares falling to an 18-month low in Monday afternoon trade, and Afterpay (ASX:APT) dipped 5% to their lowest level in six months before recovering to close 4% down at $94. Sezzle (ASX: SZL) is among the hardest hit fintechs,… Read more »
The honeymoon is about to end for the buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) sector when it comes to the fees they charge retailers. As the likes of Zip, Afterpay and Humm have stolen market share from the credit card sector, one competitive advantage they had over alternative payment methods was the support of the Reserve Bank of Australia… Read more »
ASX-listed buy-now-pay-later Zip is ramping up its offshore presence in one of the world biggest markets, taking a US$50 million (A$70m) stake in Indian BNPL ZestMoney. The six-year-old Indian fintech is the country’s market leading BNPL, with more than 11 million registered users, more than 10,000 online merchants and 75,000-plus physical stores on its customer… Read more »
Australia has a new unicorn fintech after Tiger Global led a $210 Series A round into European-focused payments fintech Scalapay. Baleen Capital and Woodson Capital also came aboard as new investors alongside existing backers Fasanara Capital and Ithaca Investments. Scalapay was founded just two years ago by Australians Simone Mancini and Johnny Mitrevski. Its buy… Read more »
ASX-listed BNPL Afterpay helped generate an impressive $21 billion in sales in FY21, up 90% on the previous year, thanks to 16 million customers. But the company also did a stellar job growing its losses, which jumped 600%, from a $19.8m statutory loss in FY20 to $156.3 million last financial year. With a $39 billion… Read more »
The Commonwealth Bank’s new buy now pay later product, StepPay, went live today with CBA no doubt hoping plenty of its 4 million customers will give the app a crack. More than 86,000 CBA customers had pre-registered for it after the idea was announced in April. This is CBA’s first outright BNPL, and sits alongside… Read more »
Sales at ASX-listed buy now pay later (BNPL) fintech Afterpay passed $20 billion a year ahead of schedule. The company’s (ASX: APT) continued astonishing growth, revealed in the 2021 financial year figures today, comes as the fintech announced a proposed sale and merger with US-listed payments company Square for A$39 billion. Afterpay posted FY21 underlying… Read more »
Peak body Financial Counselling Australia (FCA) has written to advertising regulator Ad Standards asking for Afterpay’s TV ad featuring Rebel Wilson to be banned over its “gratuitous and inappropriate” use of a children. The ad features Wilson sitting in a play room with a young child saying “if credit cards and cash had a baby… Read more »
Shares in BNPL Zip crashed nearly 8% today after the company released its Q4 trading update. The fintech (ASX: Z1P) painted a rosy growth picture, but analyst nemesis UBS said the 4Q volumes “were below expectations” resulting in a “significant volume miss” compared to forecasts, with US momentum starting to slow. Zip closed at $6.99,… Read more »
Buy-now-pay-later market leader Afterpay (ASX: APT) is getting into ibanking, launching an app-based no fee deposit account paying 1% interest. The ASX-listed fintech has been granted an Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL) by ASIC so it can provide general financial product advice and distribute basic deposit products and debit cards. Called Money by Afterpay, the… Read more »
PayPal’s AfterPay-copycat product launched in Australia today and the expected, yet sudden news sent the value of ASX-listed buy now, pay later shares plunging. The US payments giant’s ‘Pay in 4’ option is a direct copy of the AfterPay model, but with a crucial difference to the Australian fintech’s version: PayPal won’t charge late fees.… Read more »
Australian investors bought the rumour today, with shares in buy-now-pay-later company Zip jumping 13.7% on media reports that Klarna, the 1000lb Swedish gorilla in the BNPL space, had taken a holding in the Aussie fintech. Zip (ASX:Z1P) shares closed Thursday trade at $8.78, having startup the day at $7.70, giving the company a market capitalisation… Read more »
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