Afterpay is an Australian fintech company operating in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and the United States. Founded in 2014 by Nick Molnar and Anthony Eisen, the company enjoyed a first-mover advantage in the buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) space. Less than seven years later, the company reached 13.1 million active customers with gross sales amounting to $10.1 billion. Despite its success, some suggest the company has lost its edge in the buy-now-pay-later space with the emergence of several high-profile competitors exerting their influence and giving merchants more choice.
Zip
Zip is another Australian fintech company founded approximately one year before Afterpay. The company offers the interest-free Zip Pay digital wallet with BNPL functionality and also the free budget planner and personal finance app Pocketbook. For those desiring a line of credit for larger purchases, Zip Money is also available.
Zip is perhaps the largest Afterpay competitor in the Australian and New Zealand markets, processing $893.5 million in transaction volume during Q4 FY21 alone. However, Zip also has a significant presence in North America after acquiring QuadPay for $400 million in June 2020.
PayPal

In March 2021, PayPal announced plans to launch its deferred payment service for Australian merchants. The service, dubbed PayPal Pay in 4, was launched in the US, UK, and France the previous year in response to high consumer demand.
The payment service appears in the PayPal wallet at checkout and eCommerce businesses can also advertise the option using a dedicated button on their website. When it was launched in Australia, PayPal Pay in 4 was immediately available to the more than 9 million PayPal members.
Read Also: How Does PayPal Make Money
Apple

Bloomberg reported in July 2021 that Apple was working on a service to let shoppers pay for purchases in installments. The loans would be underwritten by Goldman Sachs Group Inc., a partner of the company since the Apple credit card was launched in 2019.
Apple represents a significant source of competition in the fertile North American market. The tech giant also recently announced it would partner with Affirm PayBright to offer a BNPL solution for Apple device purchases in Canada.
The Commonwealth Bank of Australia
The Commonwealth Bank of Australia is a large multinational bank with business interests across Australia, New Zealand, Asia, the US, and the UK.
The bank launched StepPay in August 2021, a BNPL service for purchases over $100. More than 86,000 consumers pre-registered for the service before it was released in Australia. StepPay can be added to the existing CommBank app or digital wallet on smartphones and tablets.
Splitit

Splitit is a BNPL service where consumers and businesses can leverage their existing Visa and Mastercard credit cards. Unlike competitor services, Splitit is not new financing. This means customers avoid paying interest because they aren’t required to carry new debt.
Splitit reported a 31% increase in year-on-year merchant sales volume in Q3 2021. Approximately 1.8 billion cardholders now have access to the platform with the company having a presence in over 30 countries.
Key takeaways:
- Afterpay is an Australian fintech company founded in 2014 by Nick Molnar and Anthony Eisen. The company enjoyed a first-mover advantage in the BNPL space but is now subject to increased competition in the Australian and North American markets.
- Zip and the Commonwealth Bank of Australia are the most significant competitors in the Australian market, with the latter having access to a large user base.
- Tech behemoths Apple and PayPal have also entered the industry, with Apple announcing plans to offer a BNPL solution in the United States and Canada in partnership with Goldman Sachs and Affirm respectively.
Read Next: Afterpay Business Model
Read Also: How Does PayPal Make Money
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