Australian purchase now, pay later agency Openpay has ended its US operations and laid off most of its employees within the nation, in keeping with Reuters.
Openpay cited funding in an “Americanised” platform as the rationale it reported widening losses within the first half of the yr. It’s now exiting after failing to safe an investor to again the US operation.
Earlier this yr, it exited the UK market after a three-year push that didn’t dent the market share of established competitor manufacturers. The departure got here after the agency was caught up in an FCA crackdown on unfair and unclear phrases in BNPL contracts.
Having emerged as a serious drive over the past couple of years, the BNPL sector is dealing with as much as the truth of rising rates of interest.
Final week, it emerged that Klarna is closing in on a funding spherical that may see its valuation slashed from $45.6 billion final yr to simply $6.5 billion.
The Swedish agency has additionally lower 10% of its employees, whereas one other lender, Sezzle, has axed 20% if its US workforce.