Mastercard and American Express are among the big names to join a $15 million Series A funding round for Divido, a consumer finance platform for retailers, lenders and payment partners.
Divido already has over 1000 partners that use its technology to offer B2C and B2B finance to their customers at the checkout. The firm lets customers spread the cost of any product or service over a period of time by providing instant access to credit at the moment of purchase, online and in-store.
Divido’s software plugs into retailers’ websites and stores and allows them to offer 0% interest instalments for customer purchases. Unlike Klarna, Divido is not a lender, and instead connects customers to lenders to arrange finance.
The firm - which claims Mercedes-Benz, BNP Paribas and Mastercard Payment Gateway Services among its clients - says that its system leads to up to 20% more sales for retailers, more lending for banks and more transactions for payment intermediaries.
So far the company's platform is available in the UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, the Nordics and the US and is on track to process its first $1 billion worth of credit applications in the next year.
The new funding round, which was led by Dawn Capital and DN Capital, will be used for global expansion, with plans afoot to launch in 10 new countries by the end of next year as the startup aims to become the world's largest platform for PoS finance.
Helping to lead this charge is Renier Lemmens, the former CEO of PayPal Emea, who is joining Divido as chairman.
Christer Holloman, CEO, Divido, says: "Proactive retailers know they have to try new initiatives to grow sales. Offering customers the option to pay later doesn’t just increase footfall and eyeballs, but it also raises average order values and conversion rates.
"And what’s good for the retailers is also good for the lenders who are providing this credit, and the intermediaries that facilitate the transactions."