Raylo, the subscription payment platform, today announces that it has raised £6.5m in additional funding, including a strategic investment from Wayra UK, part of the global telecoms group, Telefónica, with participation from existing investors Octopus Ventures and Macquarie.
The funds will be used to expand Raylo’s data and engineering teams and accelerate the roll out of the Raylo Pay subscription payment service to retailers in the UK.
With the cost of living substantially increasing, there has been a surge in demand for more affordable ways to access the products consumers need. The ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ (BNPL) space is well known for its ‘Pay in 3’ model, and is particularly popular for small and mid-sized purchases with fast fashion and beauty retailers. However, for larger ticket items such as consumer electronics, there lacks a solution to fully address consumer affordability and poor checkout conversion rates.
Raylo enables consumers access to the latest products via a monthly subscription that’s both more economical and sustainable. Retailers are paid upfront and in full (zero fees) for any purchases, whilst consumers pay only a fraction of the cost of the product during the subscription term. When consumers are ready to upgrade, the old products are returned and enter Raylo’s circular process of refurb and recommerce for maximum lifespan and sustainability.
Raylo’s retailer pipeline extends across a number of categories, including consumer electronics. Affordable Mobiles, a leading UK electronics retailer, is amongst the first to add Raylo Pay to their checkout, offering their customers 12, 24 and 36 month subscriptions across tablets, laptops and smartphones.
Bruno Moraes, Managing Director of Wayra UK, notes that “There is a clear shift in consumer behaviour and their preference for subscription based payment models. There’s an appetite for more affordable options to purchase great technology and devices. The Raylo team has proven success in delivering on this consumer trend, and we look forward to helping them scale up their platform through our strategic resources and networks.”
Raylo co-founder and CEO, Karl Gilbert, adds “We are delighted that Telefónica shares our vision of bringing our Raylo Pay solution to retailers across the UK and beyond. Subscriptions are a fundamentally better way to sell any durable product with a regular upgrade cycle – retailers enjoy a significant conversion uplift, consumers pay a fraction of the cost each month, and we avoid the wastefulness that has been encouraged under other payment models.”