Laybuy, a New Zealand-based buy-now-pay-later contender has announced that it will be listed as a public company on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX). The BNPL fintech firm made its debut on the ASX by raising $80 million through its Initial Public Offering (IPO) and will list with a market capitalization of $246 million.
Gary Rohloff, Laybuy Managing Director said they chose the ASX over the New Zealand Stock Exchange (NZX) because the Australian market had “the most sophisticated buy-now-pay-later market in the world.” The fintech company Laybuy was born in New Zealand in 2017 and claims to be a market leader in the country. It also has a small presence in Australia and the United Kingdom.
About Laybuy – the Kiwi BNPL fintech company
Headquartered in New Zealand, Laybuy offers a sophisticated and fully-integrated platform that enables customers to shop and pay the price off weekly through 6 equal installments. The company does not charge any interest but makes money by charging merchants a fee for using the platform and from late payment fees as well.
The customer’s spending limits range from NZ$120 to NZ$1500 and are based on their credit scores. The platform’s “Laybuy Boost” feature enables the customers to spend above their credit limit by paying the excess over their limit upfront.
Laybuy has been a family-owned business up until now, they started this company three-and-a-half years ago at their dining table in Auckland and today they’re operating in 3 countries,” says Managing Director Rohloff. As on 30th June 2020, the BNPL fintech has an active customer base of 470,000 (up by 110% over 12 months) and 5600 active merchants (up by 50%).
Rohloff says that getting listed on the ASX marks one heck of a milestone and while there are no plans to get listed on the NZX market anytime soon, it could surely be considered in the long term. He added that the BNPL market had done much better than expected during the pandemic.
SEE ALSO: Zip partners with eBay to expand Zip Business to SMEs
Kiwi BNPL Laybuy’s ASX IPO details
The Laybuy IPO raised A$80 million (NZ$86 million) through a A$40 million sell-down by existing shareholders and A$40 million primary issuance. About 57 million shares of Laybuy were sold at a price of A$1.41. On completion, BNPL fintech Laybuy will have 174.5 million shares. The capital raised through the IPO gave Laybuy the funds to expedite its presence in the UK.
According to Rohloff, the UK has a 2 times larger retail market than Australia. The UK market also has a comparatively high proportion of retail online shopping and a market where buy-now-pay-later is still in its infancy which gives Laybuy an enormous growth opportunity, Rohloff said.
Till June 2020, Laybuy earned a revenue of NZ$13.7m which is up from NZ$7.1m in 2019. The company’s operating expenses increased from NZ$5.7m to a whopping NZ$16.2 million and receivables impairment expenses also went up from NZ$1.7m to NZ$9.2m.
SEE ALSO: New fintech uno & 86 400 bank partner to offer digital home loan solution
For more updates and latest tech news, keep reading iTMunch
