Fintech & Ecommerce

Zip closes money management app in efforts to safeguard the BNPL business

Australian BPNL leader Zip is closing Pocketbook to focus on a core business endangered by a faltering economy

zip closes pocketbook app

Source: shutterstock.com

Australian provider of the Buy Now Pay Later lending services, Zip, closes its 800,000-user app Pocketbook, per Finextra. The fintech acquired the money management app for A$7.5 million in 2016. Today, as other companies in the BNPL sector, Zip has to adjust its business priorities in the face of rising interest rates and economic decline.

“Zip’s operating environment has changed significantly in the last few months, and as a result we have adapted our strategy accordingly in order to accelerate our path to global profitability. With this in mind, Zip has decided to close the Pocketbook app in order to reprioritise resources and focus on delivering sustainable profitability in our core ANZ market.”
Travis Tyler
Zip chief product officer

The company’s stock price has fallen from A$14.53 last May to 50 cents today. Earlier this year, Zip agreed to buy its US rival Sezzle for A$491 million. However, Sezzle has seen its share price plummet and slashed 20% of its workforce in North America this year. Speculations arise that the deal could fall through.

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Nina Bobro

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https://payspacemagazine.com/

Nina is passionate about financial technologies and environmental issues, reporting on the industry news and the most exciting projects that build their offerings around the intersection of fintech and sustainability.