Buy now, pay later platform Payright raises $27 million, total fundraise exceeds $55 million

Innovative payment plan provider and Australian fintech Payright has completed a $27 million Series D fundraise through a mix of debt and equity, bringing its total capital raise efforts so far to over $55 million.

Led by corporate advisory firm Henslow in partnership with wealth manager Escala Partners, Payright’s most recent debt and equity raise was oversubscribed and included professional, sophisticated and institutional investors. Payright is in discussions to accelerate its growth profile and this latest capital raise will be used to fuel the company’s next phase of growth, expand operations and enter into new markets, and continued investment in technology.

Co-founder and joint CEO of Payright Myles Redward said the company has secured sophisticated funding to enable growth in the loan book and increase volume.

“We are grateful for the support received from our key strategic partners and investors who have all made a significant contribution to the emergence of Payright as a meaningful participant in the buy now pay later sector.

“Payright has grown quite quicky in a short amount of time with a near-doubling of revenue quarter-on-quarter over the last 18 months and annualised volume now tracking at over $60M based on recent monthly run rate. Our team has expanded from three people to over 40, including a dedicated sales, technology and integration team, and operations and finance teams.”

Piers Redward, co-founder and joint CEO of Payright, said, “Payright has focused on growing the business development arm of the company and the next 12 months will be about scaling the business and looking at international expansion with the first move into the New Zealand region in the coming months.

“With merchant awareness and consumer confidence in alternative payments at an all-time high, Payright is well placed to capitalise on new merchant opportunities. There is a clear growth in the buy now, pay later space in the addressable market – the opportunity is close to $300 billion in retail alone, and only a very small portion of this is currently being serviced by other players in the market.”

Andrew Woodmore, Director at Henslow, said, ”The Payright team has done a great job delivering on the business plan, and this has attracted strong investor support for the company’s further growth. We are delighted to be supporting the company in this success.”

Dr George Nassios – Product Solutions Group at Escala Partners, said, “Escala and its clients have been happy to support Payright on its growth journey by raising capital via equity and loan notes. The recent raising has been particularly well received with two institutions now on the register along with a number of Escala’s sophisticated client base.”

Paul Cowan, Executive Director at investment firm River Capital and Payright non-executive Director, said “I am full of admiration for the Redward brothers and their achievements in both attracting a committed and experienced team well versed in the buy now pay later sector, and generating substantial growth in the number of merchants and customers now utilising the Payright service. The Payright team is committed to building on its growing presence, and to providing a positive experience to its merchant partners, customers, staff and financial stakeholders.”

Payright is partner-led and has a consultative partnership approach with merchants. Aspects of the product and process are tailored to merchants, which ultimately benefits them, as well as their customers. Merchants transactions are settled the same day, upfront and in full and Payright manages the customer’s repayment obligations, mitigating any risk for the merchant, improving their cash flow and helping to increase profit for their business. Payright adopts a number of responsible lending principles to ensure a positive customer experience, leading to additional referrals and repeat business for merchants.

In its first three years of lending, Payright has partnered with over 1,500 merchants with around 100 new merchants joining the platform every month and written 18,000 plans totalling approximately AU$45 million. Payright’s end customer base is around 20,000.