As its business booms, pay-later fintech upstart Affirm confidentially filed to go public on Thursday—less than a month after it lined its pockets with $500 million in fresh venture capital. Though the stake of Affirm founder (and PayPal PYPL co-founder) Max Levchin is undisclosed, the company’s $5 billion+ valuation estimated by Forbes likely puts his stake at hundreds of millions. Younger consumers are less willing to charge them on a credit card and they’re finding Affirm’s model more appealing. Affirm will be only the second pay-later fintech to hit public markets, after Melbourne-based Afterpay’s listing on the Australian stock exchange in 2016. Affirm’s listing could encourage more fintechs to follow suit via IPO, direct listing or the suddenly hot SPAC route.

Source: Forbes October 08, 2020 22:12 UTC