Alternative payments provider Affirm has officially bought PayBright of Toronto in a $264 million deal. The acquisition combines the two buy now, pay later (BNPL) companies and pushes San Francisco-based Affirm’s reach into Canada.
“This combination creates a payment solutions platform with expanded scale and reach, resulting in a larger, more diverse merchant and consumer network,” Affirm said in a Monday (Jan. 4) press release.
When the deal was announced in early December, Affirm said its acquisition of PayBright would be paid for by a combination of cash and equity.
At the time, Max Levchin, CEO and founder of Affirm, said the businesses that the two companies serve are complementary rather than overlapping.
With the deal complete, Levchin said, “Together, we are well-positioned to provide even more consumers with increased control and flexibility in their purchasing decisions.”
“With this combination, we can take buy now, pay later to a much larger scale in Canada across all retail channels,” PayBright President and CEO Wayne Pommen said in the release. With the acquisition, Pommen becomes Affirm’s senior vice president, Canada.
Affirm has said it has more than 6.2 million U.S. and Canadian customers, who can use the BNPL service at a range of retailers. The company has touted Walmart, Peloton, Oscar de la Renta, Audi and Expedia as the crown jewels of its merchant network. PayBright’s lineup has included Hudson’s Bay, Oakley, SAIL, Steve Madden, eBay, Dynamite, SHEIN, Wayfair, Samsung and Endy.
Levchin told PMYNTS in a December interview that “neither a borrower or a lender be” is great advice if a consumer can swing it.
Cash is a great way to pay for things, “as long as one has enough of it,” Levchin said. “But for most consumers, credit is a way to smooth out a lot of pedestrian expenses that can spring up and create cash flow issues for them.”
The BNPL way, he said, gives consumers an alternative to traditional credit cards that lets them pay in installments.
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