London fintech Fly Now Pay Later secures £55m to spread wings in US

Fly Now Pay Later, a London-based fintech company that helps consumers spread the cost of their travel over a flexible duration, has secured a $75m (​​£55.2m) debt funding package from Atalaya Capital Management. 

The company will use the capital to expand its operation into the US. As a part of the funding package, the New York-headquartered financier has also provided an equity investment into the business. 

The funding round comes a year and a half after raising £35m funding in Series A round by Revenio Capital. To date, the company has raised a total of $150m (£110m) in debt and equity funding.

“To have secured another landmark amount during one of the worst slowdowns in travel history after it ground to a halt is testament to the efforts of the whole team,” said Fly Now Pay Later founder and chief executive Jasper Dykes.

He added that the US market, which it entered in 2020, has been a “big part” of its “resilience plan” while domestic leisure travel has been more affected in Europe.

“There’s always a temptation to put the brakes on in times of significant headwinds, but with consumer expectations continuing to shift from traditional lending towards alternative convenient digital experiences, we upheld our investment commitments into developing our technology and threw ourselves into bolstering our partnership network in the states, which is really gaining momentum,” Dykes said. 

Dykes founded Fly Now Pay Later in 2015 when he was shopping for a holiday and was frustrated by the lack of payment flexibility within the travel sector.

Currently, the company has a presence in all core BNPL markets, including the UK, US, and EU. Hundreds of travel companies use Fly Now Pay Later to offer finance to holidaymakers, who can make repayments in scheduled instalments. 

The merchant partnerships range from SME travel operators to leading operators like Malaysia Airlines, TravelUp HotelsOne, Air Serbia, and Azores Airlines.

The platform can be used to book flights, hotels, package holidays, car hire, and more. It enables customers to spread the cost of a trip over up to 12 monthly instalments by partnering with travel merchants or directly to consumers through its Anywhere app.

Last year, Fly Now Pay Later entered into new commercial partnerships, including Malaysia Airlines and the airline payments network Universal Air Travel Plan (UATP).

In July, the alternative travel payments provider signed a deal with Cross River Bank to fuel its rapid growth internationally. 

Currently, the UK company employs 90 staff in the UK, United States & Latvia. It will onboard an additional 250 personnel across the three territories in 2022.