Affirm Aims At $9 Billion Valuation In New SEC Filing

Affirm Holdings, Inc. has filed a registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for a much-anticipated initial public offering (IPO) that could raise as much as $934.8 million, and could result in a total valuation of over $9 billion, according to an S-1/A filing on Tuesday (Jan. 5).

The buy now, pay later (BNPL) company plans to offer 24.6 million shares of class A common stock at an anticipated IPO price in the range of $33 to $38. It reported a net loss of $15.3 million on $174 million in revenue for the three months ending Sept. 30, 2020, according to the filing, which noted that more than 6,500 merchants use the company’s platform.

The news comes as the U.S. market for IPOs experienced a banner year in 2020 even with the pandemic – or maybe because of it. Connected-commerce firms led the way in many cases, frequently enjoying formidable IPO pricing and even larger first-day “pops” as investors came to the realization that the digital shift triggered by the pandemic would likely never completely reverse.

In December, unnamed sources in a published report said Affirm had decided to delay its IPO until at least this month, apparently to allow markets to settle down and eschew the large first-day pops that DoorDash and Airbnb recently experienced. And in January, Affirm announced it had completed its acquisition of PayBright of Toronto in a $264 million deal.

The BNPL market has recently experienced a large growth spurt, especially with younger shoppers. That rise was accelerated by COVID-19 and the digitization of commerce, but wasn’t created by it, as shown by the newest edition of the PYMNTS Buy Now, Pay Later Tracker.

BNPL still comprises a small part of the market – according to PYMNTS data, it was used in just 6.4 percent of total consumer purchases in September. However, usage is much higher among millennials – particularly older millennials – and its use has sizably increased as of March.