- Amazon has announced plans to acquire India-based BNPL company Axio.
- The deal is reportedly worth over $150 million, pending approval from the Indian central bank.
- The acquisition builds on Amazon’s previous financial services deals, having previously held an equity stake in Axio and acquiring Emvantage Payments, PayFort, and Tapzo.
Online retail giant Amazon plans to acquire buy now, pay later (BNPL) company Axio, as announced on the India-based fintech’s blog. According to TechCrunch, the deal is expected to close for over $150 million, pending approval from the Indian central bank.
Founded in 2013, Axio is a consumer finance company that has provided money management, pay later, and personal credit services. The company’s offerings are three-tiered. The finance planning tool allows users to review their expenses, maintain a budget, track bills, and split expenses. The BNPL offering facilitates instant credit and allows users to pay in installments while rebuilding their credit. Axio’s personal loans offer users simple registration with timely approval.
Axio has raised $226 million in funding over 14 rounds from investors including Peak XV Partners, Ribbit Capital, and Elevation Capital.
Today’s announcement comes six years after Amazon first took an equity stake in Axio. With a mission to make credit available to everyone, Axio has served over 10 million customers, noting that Amazon has been an invaluable partner in the journey.
“This means reaching more under-served customers, diversifying our offerings to address more unmet needs, and continuing to strike the right balance of customer experience, risk management, and affordability as we strive to responsibly expand access to credit across the country,” the company said in a blog post.
Amazon offers a range of payments services on its platform, including Amazon Pay, a payment service that includes Amazon Pay Express and Amazon Pay UPI; Checkout by Amazon; Amazon Flexible Payments Service; and Pay with Alexa. Among the retailer’s previous acquisitions in the financial services space are India-based Emvantage Payments, Dubai-based PayFort, and Tapzo, which the company later shuttered.