Aussie BNPL firm Openpay puts a pause on US operations

Australia-based buy now, pay later (BNPL) provider Openpay has announced the decision to pause its US operations “indefinitely”, cease loan originations from its platform there, and trim its US workforce.

Openpay halts US operations

In January 2022, Openpay had decided to withdraw from the UK market and had also appointed US investment bank Keefe, Bruyette & Woods (KBW) as corporate advisors to assist with the search for potential investors.

“However, given the current macroeconomic and public market conditions, together with the likely ongoing capital investment required in the US to fund its progress for an extended period, Openpay has decided to pause its existing US operations indefinitely,” the company says.

Openpay adds that there will be no further investment in its existing US operations “in the near term, subject to one-off costs associated to restructuring”.

The company’s available capital and funding will be redirected to its Australian business where it claims to see “continued strong growth, market-leading margins and unique market positioning”.

“This decision to shift our approach in the US was not taken lightly but will now allow even greater focus on Openpay’s Australian business which continues to perform strongly in terms of growth (TTV, revenue, active plans, customers, merchants, etc) and metrics (gross margin, NTM, loss and arrears rates etc),” says Australia CEO Dion Appel.

Appel adds that the company will continue to look for commercialisation opportunities in the US and UK but will not use them for loan origination.

Openpay offers BNPL payment solutions in Australia through its platform with durations varying from two months to two years and values up to $20,000.

The company also operates OpyPro, a B2B Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform that enables companies to manage trade accounts within one system.