Afterpay, whose online installment loans are seeing
Australia-based Afterpay will work with Marqeta to develop products first in the U.S., with plans to expand internationally, the companies said in a Thursday press release.
Marqeta already works with several other online installment lenders including Affirm, where Marqeta provides a virtual card after a loan has been approved to settle the transaction, Omri Dahan, Marqeta’s chief revenue officer, said in an interview.
Dahan didn’t disclose what types of services Marqeta will provide for Afterpay, but noted that Marqeta enables other online lenders to issue virtual cards to consumers that may be used at any merchant.
Marqeta’s API-based platform also facilitates merchant onboarding, which could streamline Afterpay’s expansion. Afterpay currently works with 43,000 merchants worldwide and is used by 7 million consumers, about half of whom are in the U.S.
“We already have links to merchants, which takes away a lot of the burden and engineering of adding retailers for a company like Afterpay,” Dahan said.
In the U.S., Afterpay’s loans are available only online, though Afterpay enables in-store loans in Australia and some other markets.
Afterpay launched four years ago and expanded to the U.S. in 2018 and the U.K. last year, offering 0% interest financing at checkout for purchases up to $1,000, with repayment spread out over four equal installments due every two weeks.
Merchants using Afterpay include DSW, Urban Outfitters and Anthropologie.
