While Klarna posts eye-popping losses of $1 billion for 2022, US BNPL rival Sezzle exits the year on a profitable note, reporting a 16% jump in total income to $38.3 million.
It's a remarkable turnaround for Sezzle, which looked like it was destined to be one of the most high-profile casualties of the BNPL recession following the July 22 termination of a $491 million merger deal with Australian player Zip.
"Fiscal year 2022 will go down as a watershed moment for Sezzle. We went from a company that reported a net loss of US$75.2 million in fiscal year 2021 to exiting 2022 with net income in the fourth quarter,” states Charlie Youakim, Sezzle’s chairman and CEO.
Some of the cost-cutting initiatives implemented by the firm have been particularly painful, including the termination of over 20% of the workforce, a pull back from international markets in India, Europe and Brazil, and a renegotiation of merchant fees which saw some companies pull out of the relationship.
On the plus side, a new premium membership drive has captured over 132,000 subscribers.
Says Youakim: “Our team worked tirelessly towards implementing over US$70.0 million (annualized) in revenue and cost initiatives in 2022, resulting in profitability in 4Q22. We are also excited to announce that we have identified additional initiatives that we believe will drive another US$10.0 million in revenue and cost benefits to Sezzle.”
To learn more about payments innovation, register for NextGen Nordics to take place on 25 April 2023.