(Reuters) – FinAccel on Monday agreed to go public through a merger with a blank-check firm, valuing the parent of Indonesian buy now, pay later platform Kredivo at about $2.5 billion, a further sign of consolidation in the fast-growing sector.
The deal follows Square Inc’s move to purchase buy now, pay later pioneer Afterpay Ltd for $29 billion, underscoring the popularity of the business model that has boomed in the past year as homebound consumers used it to borrow and spend online during the pandemic.
FinAccel’s deal with VPC Impact Acquisition Holdings II, a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), gives the fintech firm gross proceeds of $430 million, including a private investment of $120 million led by Marshall Wace, Corbin Capital, SV Investment, Palantir Technologies, Maso Capital, and sponsor Victory Park Capital.
Kredivo, the largest buy now, pay later platform in Indonesia, provides customers instant credit financing for e-commerce and offline purchases, as well as personal loans, based on AI-enabled real-time decisioning.
The company has nearly 4 million approved customers and a presence across eight of the top 10 e-commerce merchants in Indonesia, with plans to expand into regional markets such as Vietnam and Thailand in the near future.
FinAccel’s investors over the years include Square Peg, Mirae Asset, NAVER, Jungle Ventures, GMO Internet, and Telkom Indonesia.
SPACs are shell companies that raise funds through an initial public offering to take a private company public through a merger at a later date.
Goldman Sachs (Singapore) Pte is serving as financial adviser to Kredivo.
(Reporting by Noor Zainab Hussain in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)
