Australian buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) firm Zip has agreed to invest $50 million to acquire a minority stake in India-based ZestMoney.
Zip is Australia’s second-biggest BNPL player. Zip acquired companies in Europe and the Middle East over the past one year. Zip said it had negotiated terms to increase its shareholding in ZestMoney over time.
Zip’s investment in Bengaluru, India-based fintech ZestMoney marks its entry into a market with a massive young demographic, which is gravitating more towards cash-less payments and has a huge growth potential in the BNPL and e-commerce space.
“With partnerships with online and offline merchants and lending partners, ZestMoney is poised to accelerate growth as the market develops,” Zip Chief Executive Officer Larry Diamond said.
The BNPL space saw established players testing newer areas of business to power growth, with Australian BNPL giant Afterpay getting $29 billion offer from Square, and U.S. payments giant PayPal buying a Japanese firm for $2.7 billion.
