Square is to acquire Australian buy now, pay later firm Afterpay for $29 billion.
For Square, the deal represents an opportunity to get in on a hot new payment mode that is undermining its traditional stronghold in merchant card-based payments.
Square plans to integrate Afterpay into its existing Seller and Cash App business units, enable even the smallest of merchants to offer BNPL at checkout, give Afterpay consumers the ability to manage their installment payments directly in Cash App, and give Cash App customers the ability to discover merchants and BNPL offers directly within the app.
“The addition of Afterpay to Cash App will strengthen our growing networks of consumers around the world, while supporting consumers with flexible, responsible payment options,” says Brian Grassadonia, lead of Square’s Cash App business. “Afterpay will help deepen and reinforce the connections between our Cash App and Seller ecosystems, and accelerate our ability to offer a rich suite of commerce capabilities to Cash App customers.”
Afterpay currently serves more than 16 million consumers and nearly 100,000 merchants globally.
The company in April was reportedly contemplating a US listing following strong growth in North American markets.
The firm's Q3 results statement revealed a tripling in North America sales, overtaking Australia and helping to double the total value of transactions it processed to A$5.2 billion compared with a year earlier.
Upon closing, Afterpay will benefit from Square’s large customer base of more than 70 million annual transacting active Cash App customers and millions of sellers.