British travel fintech firm secures $75m funding package

A British fintech travel company has closed a USD $75m debt funding package provided by funds managed by Atalaya Capital Management to support US expansion.

As part of Fly Now Pay Later’s funding package, Atalaya Capital Management has also provided an equity investment into the business.

Fly Now Pay Later is a buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) player in the largely unaddressed travel sector. With a presence in all core BNPL markets (UK, US and EU). Fly Now Pay Later is the only global player solely focused on the rapidly recovering travel sector.

The alternative lender enables customers to spread the cost of a trip over up to 12 monthly instalments by partnering with leading travel merchants or directly to consumers through its Anywhere app.

Building on GBP £45M of new investment made in the previous two equity funding rounds, the alternative payments provider launched in 2015 by Jasper Dykes, has now raised a total of USD $150m in debt and equity funding to support global expansion.

The milestone has been achieved in less than six years of trading, during which time Fly Now Pay Later successfully navigated 18 months of unprecedented travel sector disruption.

With online US commercial aviation returning to pre-pandemic levels, Fly Now Pay Later will use the new investment to further build out and scale its operational footprint in the world’s largest travel market.

The use of BNPL products nearly quadrupled in 2020, to £2.7bn in transactions in the UK, with five million people using these products since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic.

Analysts forecast that by 2026, spending via BNPL services is predicted to hit almost $51bn (£37bn) in the UK alone.

BNPL accounted for 2.1 per cent — or about $97bn — of all global e-commerce transactions in 2020, according to Worldpay.

Looking to promote your product/service to SME businesses in your region? Find out how Bdaily can help →