New Zealand-based Buy now, pay later lender Laybuy has entered receivership after failing to find a buyer for the ailing business.
Laybuy listed on the Australian stock exchange in 2020 and shares traded as high as A$2.30. It delisted last year after the share price had plumetted to A0.6 cents.
The firm was forced to cut its headcount by a third in July 2022 after failing to raise fresh capital and ditching plans to hive off its UK arm.
"While we have been making good progress over the last two years, the economic downturn has been longer than we expected, and this had had a significant impact on the retail sector in both New Zealand and the United Kingdom," says founder Gary Rohloff. "As a result, we have seen reduced consumer spending, higher credit losses, and increased fraudulent activity. This alongside increased financing costs created a perfect storm that was difficult to recover from."
The firm has appointed Deloitte to oversee and orderly wind down and warned customers that there might be temporary interruptions to some systems or "we might need to go offline for a short period of time".
Laybuy last raised A$35 million in 2021 for a push into the UK market.
The UK based entities continue to trade and have not been placed in receivership.