BNPL

A $1.49B deal for a 60% stake in Atome and Tabby’s $233M Series F at a $6.5B valuation mark BNPL’s latest shift toward regional scale and consolidation.

Who they are

BNPL, or buy now, pay later, is the consumer-credit and payments category at the center of coverage of installment financing at checkout and beyond. The stories follow specialist providers including Klarna, Tabby, Affirm, Atome, Zilch, Axio, Flex and Zip, as well as platforms and retailers that distribute or absorb the service, including Amazon, Walmart, Apple, Grab and Flipkart.

The recent arc

Coverage peaked in 2023Q4 amid evidence that BNPL was becoming embedded in major commerce flows: Adobe said the category contributed a record $16.6B to US online holiday sales, while Walmart expanded its Affirm partnership to more than 4,500 stores. That expansion narrative was uneven, however: Apple launched Apple Pay Later in 2023 and then said in June 2024 that it would discontinue the US service in favor of forthcoming installment-loan features; Klarna also faced a $50M Swedish AML fine ahead of its US IPO plans.

The latest cluster, concentrated in 2026Q3, is driven by larger regional financing and M&A alongside concern about broader household use. Grab agreed to buy a 60% stake in Singapore-based Atome for $1.49B, after reports it was considering a majority acquisition, while Tabby raised a $233M Series F at a $6.5B valuation. At the same time, New York Times coverage described Flex, Zip and Affirm marketing pay-later loans for basic household needs, after Americans spent $160B through such loans in 2025.

The tension

The coverage circles a conflict between BNPL’s promise as a retail-conversion and accessible-payment tool and its increasing resemblance to lightly visible consumer credit. Klarna’s earlier losses and AML fine, the UK’s plan to regulate BNPL under rules akin to banks, and reporting on accelerating defaults and “phantom debt” sit beside Tabby’s rising valuation, Atome’s acquisition, and retailer adoption through Walmart, Amazon and others. The competitive field is also fluid: Apple’s withdrawal shows that distribution advantages do not guarantee a durable standalone BNPL offering.

Why it matters

If consolidation and funding continue, BNPL may be increasingly shaped by a smaller group of scaled regional platforms and commerce ecosystems rather than a broad field of checkout startups. But the category’s move from discretionary purchases toward groceries and household needs raises the stakes for underwriting, disclosure and regulation; whether providers can preserve growth while absorbing tighter oversight and credit losses will determine whether this becomes durable payments infrastructure or a more constrained form of consumer lending.

Related: Klarna · Tabby · Amazon · Apple says it will no longer offer Apple Pay Later, the BNPL service l · Sweden's financial regulator fines BNPL startup Klarna $50M for “signi