Buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) company Laybuy has put itself up for sale and is looking for potential buyers after a turbulent few years on the public markets. City AM. can reveal.
The New Zealand fintech company, which was founded in 2017 and once had around 766,000 customers in the UK, Australia and New Zealand, plans to delist from New Zealand junior exchange Catalist and become privately owned, sources familiar with the matter said. City AM
Laybuy has endured a difficult time since raising $80 million (£40 million) on the Australian stock exchange in 2020, valued at around $358 million (£184 million). Last January, the company delisted from Sydney after a slump in its share price and announced it would move to the small business-focused market Catalist.
The fintech company is currently valued at around £4.3 million at Catalist. Catalist is considered a feeder to the New Zealand Stock Exchange, known as NZX.
While the number of Laybuy’s active customers in the UK peaked at around 610,000 in March 2022, this number fell to around 484,000 by the end of the year.
BNPL companies have also been hit by a slowdown as shoppers have tightened their belts during the cost of living crisis. Laybuy removed major retailers such as Amazon, Ebay and Marks & Spencer from its platform earlier this month.
Since the company was founded seven years ago, the BNPL sector as a whole has been grappling with the threat of tighter regulations across all markets and increasing competition from established payment companies.
Swedish fintech Klarna has seen an explosion in popularity to become the UK’s largest BNPL provider with around 18 million customers, followed by Clearpay and Zilch. Major banks such as HSBC, Natwest and Virgin Money have also sought to capitalise on the boom in demand for interest-free installment loans.
Moody’s analysts warned in a report last November that “few BNPL companies will remain independent” as some are acquired and others cease operations due to increasing headwinds.
They added that the suppliers’ chances of survival would be better if they could quickly reach break-even, which Laybuy has not managed to do so far.
Laybuy did not respond to a request for comment.
