News that Zip, an Australian buy now, pay later (BNPL) company, intends to buy Sezzle, a U.S. company of similar ilk, caught our eye this morning. Both concerns are public in Australia, which means that the deal provides a fascinating window into the real value of this particular sort of fintech revenue.
TechCrunch has covered more BNPL startup funding rounds than I can hold straight in my head. The global fintech boom brought with it a parade of checks for startups building installment credit options under the BNPL aegis in recent quarters, meaning that our keyboards have been busy.
For example, MarketForce raised $40 million last week, Alma raised $130 million earlier this month, Ascend picked up $280 million in equity and debt capital in late January, BillEase raised $11 million in mid-January, ThankUCash raised $5.3 million for its fintech work that includes BNPL, and Lipa Later is targeting new markets for its BNPL services after raising $12 million. And that’s merely what I found with a quick scan of TechCrunch this morning.
The Exchange exp …