Despite the Klarna drama, Buy Now, Pay Later has reshaped and continues to reshape both e-commerce and FinTech as we know it. Therefore, every FinTech must have a BNPL strategy. Let's see why👇🏼


The global BNPL market was worth around $132 billion in 2021 but it's estimated to reach a whopping $3.7 trillion by 2030 at a CAGR of 45%. That's massive! 😳

Although pioneered by Affirm in the US back in 2012 (Klarna was founded in 2014), the Buy Now, Pay Later model is nothing but new. The earliest form of BNPL traces back to the 19th century when installment plans emerged as a way for consumers to purchase expensive goods (e.g. furniture or farm equipment) they didn't have the funds to buy outright.

The FinTech revolution has led to the rebirth of BNPL making it one of the hottest trends in finance. This was driven by the dual appeal:

1) For consumers, it’s about convenience through a streamlined, low-friction, integrated check-out experience.

2) For merchants, it's all about boosting conversion rates and average order value.

Looking at the future of the BNPL market, we should note that its massive growth should primarily be driven by the anticipated economic downturn, which will increase the demand for low-cost credit solutions.

What's important here is that India🇮🇳 has massive growth potential with BNPL users predicted to grow from 25M in 2022 to 116M by 2027. That's 464% growth! 🤯 The key catalysts should be rising e-commerce usage and growing interest in international goods available through online retailers.

Zooming out, we must remember that BNPL is a feature and it’s super hard to build a sustainable business around it alone.

Yet, it’s a feature with growing demand in a somewhat new market (people are ditching credit cards for BNPL though it’s still a loan), so it would be foolish not to capitalize on it, especially in emerging markets. Remember Apple just entered the game making some massive waves 🌊

Therefore, if you're in FinTech and you don't have a BNPL strategy, you're missing out.

P.S. check out 🔔linas.substack.com🔔, it's the only newsletter you need for all things when Finance meets Tech. For founders, builders, and leaders.