BNPL

Empower: US BNPL use has grown to 91.5M users, with 25% financing groceries, as default rates accelerate and most loans aren't reported, creating “phantom debt”

* AI bubble  —  * Wall Street bitcoin  —  * Private equity bubble  —  * adding the Buy Now Pay Later bubble, which is ... largely untracked!!  —  techcrunch.com/2025/11/16/b...  this feeds to my theor...

UK-based BNPL startup Zilch raised $176.7M in equity and debt led by KKCG at the same $2B valuation as its 2022 funding, after raising $127M in 2024

Aisha S Gani / Bloomberg :

Sources: Samsung is in talks with Barclays to launch a consumer credit card in the US; it's also exploring a high-yield savings account, BNPL product, and more

AnnaMaria Andriotis / Wall Street Journal :

Mumbai-based Snapmint, a BNPL partner to brands that lets consumers pay in monthly instalments via India's UPI, raised a $125M Series B led by General Atlantic

Shashank Pathak / Entrackr :

Riyadh-based BNPL startup Tabby completes a secondary share sale of existing shareholders' stakes, valuing it at $4.5B ahead of a possible IPO

Klarna, which is planning a potential NYSE IPO as soon as September, is focusing on its banking push to boost revenue while shedding its image as a BNPL phenom

Aisha S Gani / Bloomberg :

The UK plans to bring forward legislation to regulate BNPL services under the same rules as banks, four years after the previous government unveiled regulations

Akila Quinio / Financial Times :

The US CFPB says it will stop enforcing a Biden-era rule that treats BNPL firms like credit card lenders; Affirm and other BNPL firms had opposed to the rule

For the third time under President Donald Trump, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has pulled back from enforcing a key rule …

Riyadh-based BNPL startup Tabby raised a $160M Series E led by Blue Pool Capital at a $3.3B valuation; CEO Hosam Arab is looking at an IPO in the next 18 months

Federico Maccioni / Reuters :

Amazon to acquire Bengaluru-based BNPL startup Axio, sources say for $150M+; Axio raised $135M in equity, claims to have 10M+ customers, and a $260M+ loan book

At axio, we've been on a mission to make credit worthy for customers across India. Supriya Roy / Times of India : Amazon to acquire fintech startup Axio for about $160 million The Paypers : Amazon acq...