ASX-listed fintech Openpay hits 2.2 million active plans
‘Buy now. Pay smarter.’ company, Openpay Group has released its quarterly business update for the period ended 30 September 2021 (Q1FY22).
Openpay’s CEO, Michael Eidel commented, “Through Q1FY22, we delivered continued strong operating and financial results despite challenging market circumstances for our key verticals in ANZ. We successfully entered the Healthcare market in the UK, whilst progressing the acquisition of the UK’s Automotive BNPL leader, Payment Assist.
“A standout for the period was the work undertaken in the US to set the platform for our launch. Outside of the partnerships to drive growth and scale in B2C with PatientNow, Everyware and in B2B with Kyriba, we signed key funding and risk management agreements with Goldman Sachs, Atalaya, Cross River and Experian.
“Our first US plans were signed and transacted in October, taking Openpay into its third major geographic opportunity. This was a major scene setter for the step change in business performance expected as we welcome customers in the world’s largest consumer payments market.”
Following the appointment of Dion Appel as CEO ANZ, the crystallisation of the local strategy has advanced Openpay’s mission of changing the way people pay, for the better. The ANZ region will continue to focus on key verticals; automotive, healthcare, home improvement, education, memberships, and retail; where its longer, larger, and customised plans make a true difference and provide a significantly differentiated offering from most providers who predominantly focus on ‘pay-in-4’.
Openpay have continued to drive an aggressive and focused strategy to acquire new customers – with initiatives including Officeworks co-marketing program, Bunnings’s magazine placements with a reach of 1.3 million readers, Melbourne Storm campaign and MyHealth1st engagement for health customers. This has resulted in a 73% increase in Active Plans and record TTV of $73 million.
Advancements to Openpay’s ability to deliver targeted and more relevant communications has been delivered to improved customer engagement – key enhancements comprise automation of key customer journeys; post plan creation, geo targeting and targeted messaging, together with Braze 1st party data integration with Facebook and Google paid advertising.
During Q1FY22, Openpay has been able to sign a record number of key merchants, major platforms and aggregator partners to enable merchant growth of 84% y-o-y, which will support growth of TTV and Revenue in Q2FY22, the peak season for Openpay’s business.
Openpay has partnered with Till Payments, a world leading end-to-end payments solution provider, to offer the flexibility of buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) to hundreds of Till’s merchants in Australia and New Zealand in key verticals Automotive, Retail and Home Improvement.
Openpay has secured a global partnership with leading open-source e-commerce platform Prestashop. PrestaShop empowers over hundreds of thousands online businesses globally that are looking for an accessible and innovative end to end e-commerce solution. Openpay will be made available for any merchants through Prestashop’s marketplace.
Openpay has also signed a global partnership with a leading SaaS Automated billing platform Paycove. The deal includes Openpay as the preferred lender for thousands of Paycove’s merchants in Australia, UK and US across their target verticals in Automotive, Health, Education and Home Improvement.
During the quarter, Openpay continued to deliver new active merchants across all key verticals:
Retail & Home – Openpay has won major national banners, adding household names like Jeans West, Sportspower online, Sportsco, Homyped and Live Outer. JD Sports, City Beach and The Just Group including brands Peter Alexander, Just Jeans and Smiggle, now offer Openpay in-store, available across 1000+ locations.
Automotive – Openpay has secured partnerships with Nissan Australia, Goodyear & Dunlop Tyres Australia (including Beaurepaires instore and online, Goodyear Autocare and Dunlop Super Dealers), Victorian Automobile Chamber of Commerce (VACC) and Bosch Car Service Australia.
Health – Openpay has demonstrated its leadership within the hospital segment having signed a partnership with Nexus Hospitals and expanded partnership with St John of God Hospitals. Continued growth in Veterinary with a signed agreement with Vets Central, and great progress with the roll out with VetPartners (97 practice locations now set up) and ezyVet (an additional 24 practices now offering Openpay).
Memberships – Despite lockdowns in major states, Openpay continued to sign sporting clubs in preparation for new seasons to commence in 2022. Significant sporting clubs signed during the quarter include: Bunbury Golf Club, South West Rocks Golf Club, Oxley Golf Club, Byford Baseball/Softball Association, Pinjarra, Westmeadows, Baldivis, Hillman and Willeton Cricket Clubs and Associations, Fiddes Sport, ESA Sport Agency and Scarborough Football Club.
Education – Education merchants continue to be onboarded, and average transaction value continues to rise as merchants start to leverage the availability of Openpay value proposition. Education merchants added during the quarter include: Berlitz Australia, Inspirited Solutions, Coder College, Ecom Capital, Real Estate Training Australia, Ferres Enterprises, Industry Currency, Teme Media Group, The Studio Limited, The Distance Skills Academy, The Sales Institute of Australia, and Thnkedu.
