Splitit, the buy now, pay later solution provider that allows customers to pay in installments using their credit cards, has announced its investment from Motive Partners. The company plans to use the $50 million in funding to accelerate growth and support the execution of its strategic plan.
Motive Partners is a specialty private equity firm that focuses on financial technology investments in banking and payments, capital markets, data and analytics, investment management and insurance sectors. This news follows a Splitit BNPL strategic global partnership earlier this year.
The financial terms of the $50 million deal comprise two $25 million tranches. The first portion will be immediately invested once shareholders approve of Splitit’s voluntary delisting from the Australian Securities Exchange and change the company’s domicile from Israel to the Cayman Islands.
Splitit has already formally applied to ASX for removal as the company’s board views the ASX enterprise listing value of Splitit as an undervaluation. Existing shareholders will have the opportunity to retain ownership in the buy now, pay later solutions provider as the company goes private, or decrease ownership through trading on the ASX before the delisting.
The secondary $25 million will be invested once Splitit achieves 2023 financial performance milestones, which the company said they’re on track to exceed.
“We are delighted to secure this significant capital commitment from a world-class private equity sponsor,” said Dawn Robertson, chairman of Splitit. “Motive is the ideal partner to help us drive future value creation due to its extensive payments expertise, value-additive capabilities, and deep industry relationships. The board unanimously concluded that the proposed transaction represents the best available opportunity to create long-term value for Splitit’s existing shareholders.”
This Motive Partners investment will allow Splitit to strengthen its capital position, attract larger and more sophisticated clients, develop its strategic partnership and further develop its technology. As a re-domiciliation of a privately held Cayman Islands company, Splitit expects benefits of lower administrative costs, a flexible operating environment, attracting and retaining talent and improving prospects for accessing growth capital.
Nandan Sheth, named chief executive officer of Splitit in 2022, said, “Attracting a strategic investor of this caliber is a testament to the quality of our team and our unique, innovative offering — especially given difficult market conditions for raising capital. This level of investment significantly strengthens our balance sheet, allowing the team to focus on our white-label product strategy, innovation, and our tier-one global distribution partners.”