Splitit is set to receive $50 million from Motive Partners.
The funding will be issued in two $25 million installments.
Motive Partners stipulates that Splitit must delist from the Australian Stock Exchange and meet certain performance milestones in order to receive the funds.
There is something poetic about a BNPL company receiving private equity funding in installments. One of the first BNPL players in the market, Splitit, has landed a $50 million investment from private equity firm Motive Partners. The funds, which will boost Splitit’s total funding to $325 million, will be paid out in two tranches.
For Splitit, which is a publicly traded company listed on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) under the ticker SPT and also trades on the US OTCQX under tickers SPTTY and STTTF, today’s investment isn’t a straightforward transaction.
Splitit will receive the funds in two $25 million installments in exchange for the issuance of new preference shares. According to the release, Splitit will receive the first installment after two conditions have been met– first, when shareholders approve the company delisting from the ASX and second, after the company moves its incorporation site from Israel to the Cayman Islands. Splitit will receive the second $25 million after achieving certain performance milestones.
Splitit’s board opted to agree to Motive Partners’ transaction terms for five reasons:
The funds offer growth capital in the midst of a difficult fundraising environment.
The partnership with Motive Partners was especially attractive, given the firm’s resources, network, and talent.
The ASX undervalues Splitit’s business and doesn’t appreciate the company’s “differentiated value proposition and prospects.”
The move to become a private, Cayman Islands-based company will offer Splitit more flexibility and less administrative costs.
The move from the ASX will offer existing shareholders the option to choose to retain ownership in Splitit as a private company or to decrease their ownership in the run-up to the delisting.
“Attracting a strategic investor of this calibre is a testament to the quality of our team and our unique, innovative offering– especially given difficult market conditions for raising capital,” said Splitit Managing Director and CEO Nandan Sheth. “This level of investment significantly strengthens our balance sheet, allowing the team to focus on our white-label product strategy, innovation, and our Tier One global distribution partners.”
Splitit was founded in 2012 under the name PayItSimple. The company’s Installments-as-a-Service offering allows merchants to add a white-labeled BNPL option embedded into their checkout flow. Splitit also offers a BNPL tool that works at the physical point-of-sale by pre-qualifying consumers with available credit on their credit card for the value of that available credit.
Earlier this year, Splitit partnered with Atlantic-Pacific Processing Systems to offer BNPL services to their merchants. The company also partnered with Visa to embed a BNPL solution within merchants’ existing credit card processes. Splitit also holds partnerships with Stripe, Shopify, and Alipay to act as an Installments-as-a-Service option for their merchant clients.
Photo by Karolina Grabowska
