Affirm offers a profitability strategy that other BNPL FinTechs should steal 👏; The worst year ever for stock trading apps 📉; Binance wants to be your Crypto Bank 🏦
FinTech is Eating the World, 22 November
Hey Everyone,
And happy Wednesday! Today’s issue is the best one this week so far. We’re looking at Affirm which offers a profitability strategy that other BNPL FinTechs should steal (it’s brilliant!), see why 2022 is the worst year ever for stock trading apps (& why everyone should be cautious!), and Binance that wants to be your Crypto Bank (it might be a golden opportunity!). Let’s jump straight into the awesome stuff:
Affirm offers a profitability strategy that other BNPL FinTechs should steal 👏
The numbers 📊 Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) pioneer Affirm AFRM 0.00%↑ posted their first fiscal Q1 2023 (they report numbers differently and their latest quarter ended September 30, 2022) numbers earlier this month. And they aren’t bad at all!
More on this 👉 Here’s what you need to know:
Affirm’s gross merchandise volume (GMV) grew 62% year over year (YoY) compared with an 84% YoY increase in the same period last year.
It currently has 14.7M active customers. 69% growth YoY.
There are 245K active merchants on Affirm. 140% growth YoY.
Affirm counts 3.3 transactions per active customer representing 39% growth YoY.
Affirm is reportedly approaching 2% of all US e-commerce spend:
What does it mean? 🤔 These numbers aren’t bad, so it’s important to understand how we got here. In essence, there are two key factors that drove Affirm’s success in the last quarter: (1) growing active customers and merchants, and (2) a shift in consumer spending habits (despite the pandemic being over, people are now spending more on everyday purchases and travel).
Beyond the numbers 🔍 What really caught my attention in their latest shareholder letter though was Affirm’s profitability strategy. It’s so simple it’s brilliant! And the best part is that other BNPL providers and FinTechs per se can and should steal it.
So let’s look beyond numbers and see how Affirm is planning to become profitable by the end of 2023.