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British ‘Klarna of travel’, Fly Now Pay Later picks $75M to make travel affordable

Fly Now Pay Later
Image credits: Fly Now Pay Later

As per Juniper Research, Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) will take over 50% of the market for embedded finance by 2026. Despite its popularity, BNPL has not addressed the travel sector and this is what London-based startup Fly Now Pay Later intends to do.

$75 million in debt funding

The company just closed $75 million in debt funding from the funds managed by Atalaya Capital Management to support its expansion into the US, which is the world’s largest travel market. As BNPL is gaining momentum, Fly Now Pay Later offers an effective and flexible alternative to finance travel.

As a part of the funding package, the New York VC Atalaya has also pumped an equity investment into the company. With this round, the overall investment raised by Fly Now Pay Later accounts for $150 million in debt and equity funding.

Currently, the alternative travel payment provider employs 90 staff in the UK, United States and Latvia. It aims to support each market over the next year in line with customer demand and as travel restrictions ease. It will onboard a further 250+ personnel across the three territories in 2022.

“To have secured another landmark amount during one of the worst slowdowns in travel history after it ground to a halt is testament to the efforts of the whole team,” said Fly Now Pay Later founder and chief executive Jasper Dykes. “The US, which we entered in 2020, purposely formed a big part of our resilience plan as domestic leisure travel has been less affected than in Europe. And will continue to be a key focus as we enter 2022.”

“Fly Now Pay Later has handled the past 24 months admirably. It’s a strong brand in a high growth mode, that’s well-positioned to capture the buoyant category demand. We’re proud to support the company and its experienced management team as they continue to make life easier for travellers and merchants worldwide with its tech-enabled financial solutions,” added James Intermont, Principal at Atalaya Capital Management

Makes travel affordable and flexible

Fly Now Pay Later was established in 2015 by Jasper Dykes and Stuart Jeffrey as they struggled to find decent payment options for his trips around the world. The fintech was launched with the mission to make travel more affordable and flexible for everyone.

Similar to Klarna, It transforms the way people pay for their travel and intends to build a future where everyone spends relatively lesser time planning their travel, and save the money spent on the travel to explore new things and make memories. Its team comprises travellers, jet-setters and globe-trotters with the goal to make as easy as possible for you to plan, book and pay.

In the past year, Fly Now Pay Later has entered into significant new commercial partnerships including, Malaysia Airlines and the airline payments network Universal Air Travel Plan (UATP) (EU merchants only). In July, the alternative travel payments provider signed a deal with Cross River Bank, the New Jersey-based financial services organisation and Banking-as-a-Service provider to further fuel its rapid growth internationally.

This was strengthened by the strategic UK and US link-up with ChargeAfter, a global network of BNPL and point-of-sale financing for merchants, making Fly Now Pay Later the first travel-centric installment payment option available on the platform.

How does it work?

With Fly Now Pay Later, you can head out on your next adventure in just a few simple steps. All you need to do is join their tribe of travellers. This is simple as you just have to download the app, create an account and look out for your next trip. Now, book your dream trip and choose a payment mode that suits you. You have the option to spread the cost up to 12 months and repayment plans starting from 0% APR.

As you can afford the travel, you will be able to spend the cash you have on the trip and get the most out of it. You will get a virtual card to pay for your holiday with. Once everything is booked, the fintech will handle everything for you such as setting up direct debits.

What’s interesting is that Fly Now Pay Later lets you borrow between £100 and £3000 to book your next trip. While there are interest-free options, you can also repay the cost early without any additional charges. It also offers you the choice to spread the cost of the trip over 1 month, 3 months,or12 months.

The company can be used to book flights, hotels, package holidays, car hire and more and offers frictionless payment options to support businesses and the end consumer. The service is quick and easy to use, and a credit check is performed instantly.

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