Is anyone talking about anything other than Klarna’s long-awaited US equity debut?

Current market:

• Marginal uptick in M&A activity

We are seeing:

• Buy-now, pay-later providers attract the most private capital interest in the last 12 months:

Established banks:

• Go whale hunting (e.g., Barclays' acquisition of General Motors' card business)
• Prefer funding consumer finance providers, rather than consumer loans (e.g., Deutsche Bank's £250 million debt funding facility for Abound)
• Expend venture capital on finance for underserved consumers (e.g., CommerzVentures' participation in MoneyFellows' pre-Series C funding round)

Consumer finance heavyweights:

• Snap up distressed assets (e.g., Klarna's acquisition of Laybuy's New Zealand assets)
• Recognise importance of sustainability prerogatives (e.g., Younited's acquisition of Helios)
• Deepen existing customer offering (e.g., Tide's acquisition of Onfolk)

Key drivers / challenges:

Diverse buyer / investor profile:

• Public markets: eleving, Enity and Younited were amongst the few financial services businesses to successfully enter the public equity markets in the last 12 months
• Venture capital: primarily participation in funding rounds, with the sweet spot being Series A to C in the last 12 months
• Multilateral development banks: targeting developing financial systems (e.g., IFC's equity investment in MNT-Halan)

Consumer finance providers partner to:

• Rapidly expand distribution channels (e.g., Klarna's 5 BNPL partnerships with Meta, Eurostar, eBay, JPMorgan Pay and GooglePay)
• Increase product suite (e.g., Klarna's debit card partnership with Visa)
• Deepen understanding of customer spending behaviours (e.g., Abound's and Argyle's respective open banking partnerships with D•One and Mastercard)

Trends to watch:

Appetite for growing verticals:

• Payroll finance on both sides of the Atlantic (e.g., Vistra's and Zellis' respective acquisitions of iiPay and Hastee)
• Personal loans (e.g., Lendable's partnership with Post Office)
• Credit card usage remains strong (e.g., Pliant, Mynt and Yonder all successfully executed funding rounds in the last 12 months)

Our M&A forecast

Despite increasing regulatory scrutiny and high-profile insolvencies (e.g., Laybuy and Divido), lender and consumer appetite for BNPL is still growing. Success of Klarna’s long-awaited U.S. equity debut could be the spark which ignites exit hopes for larger consumer finance providers.

Consumer Finance – Publicly reported deals & situations

Healthy buyer/investor appetite

Strategics (investments):

• CommerzVentures: Consumer finance, Participation in US$13 million pre-Series C funding round in MoneyFellows (May 2025)
• NatWest: Credit cards, Equity investment in Yonder (April 2025)
• Citibank: BNPL, Participation in €410 million debt and equity funding round in SeQura (November 2024)
• Stanbic Bank Ghana: Digital lending, Participation in US$10 million Series B debt funding round in Fido (September 2024)

Strategics (debt funding):

• Deutsche Bank: Consumer lending, Provision of £250 million debt funding facility to Abound (March 2025)

Strategics (acquisitions):

• Norion Bank/Walley: Consumer finance, Acquisition of Verkkokauppa.com's consumer financing business (June 2025)
• IBL Banca: Consumer credit, Acquisition of 60% of Fincentro Finance (February 2025)
• Barclays: Credit cards, Acquisition of Goldman Sachs' General Motors card business (October 2024)

Multilateral development banks:

• International Finance Corporation: Micro lending, Participation in US$157.5 million funding round in MNT-Halan (July 2024)

IPOs:

• Enity Holding: Mortgage lending, Nasdaq Stockholm IPO (June 2025)
• Eleving Group: Consumer finance, €29 million Nasdaq Riga Stock Exchange and Frankfurt Stock Exchange IPOs (October 2024)

De-SPACs:

• Iris Financial & Younited: Consumer credit, Business combination (October 2024)

UHNW:

• EAVISTA / Arif Babayev: Credit cards, Acquisition of 75.1% of Card Complete Service Bank (February 2025)

Conglomerates:

• Delek Group: Credit cards, Acquisition of Isracard (July 2025)

Private / venture capital:

• Rocketship, MITAA, Oneway VC and MoreThan Capital: Corporate credit card and financial management, Participation in US$19.8 million debt and equity funding round in Qashio (May 2025)
• Nclude Fund, Al Mada Ventures and Partech Africa: Consumer finance, Participation in US$13 million pre-Series C funding round in MoneyFellows (May 2025)
• Korelya Capital and Opera Tech Ventures: BNPL, Participation in €10 million funding round in Hokodo (April 2025)
• Illuminate Financial, Speedinvest, PayPal Ventures and Motive Ventures: Corporate credit cards, Participation in US$40 million Series B funding round in Pliant (April 2025)
• Blue Pool Capital, Hassana Investment Company, Wellington Management and STV: BNPL, Participation in US$160 million Series E funding round in Tabby (February 2025)
• Goodwater Capital, Ascension Ventures and Love Ventures: Mortgage brokerage, Participation in £14 million Series B funding round in Tembo (December 2024)
• Vor Capital, CNI and Incore: Corporate credit cards, Participation in €22 million Series B funding round in Mynt (December 2024)
• RTP Global, Repeat and Latitude: Credit cards, Participation in £23.4 million early-stage funding round in Yonder (September 2024)
• BlueOrchard Finance and FMO Investment Management: Digital lending, Participation in US$20 million Series B funding round in Fido (September 2024)
• Blue Owl Capital, Rho Capital Partners, The Olayan Group and Hollyport Capital: Payroll finance, Participation in US$120 million funding round in CloudPay (August 2024)
• Catalyst Romania Fund II, South Central Ventures and Lead Ventures: BNPL, Participation in €10 million Series B funding round in Leanpay (July 2024)
• Development Partners International, Lorax Capital Partners, Apis Partners, Lunate and GB Corp: Micro lending, Participation in US$157.5 million funding round in MNT-Halan (July 2024)

Consolidation of market share

Acquisitions:

• Zellis: Earned wages platform, Acquisition of Hastee (June 2025)
• Epassi: Employee benefits platform, Acquisition of VIP District (June 2025)
• LemFi: Consumer credit, Acquisition of Pillar (June 2025)
• Younited: Sustainable banking, Acquisition of Helios (May 2025)
• BTB Israel: Neo-lending, Acquisition of Loani (April 2025)
• Maseera: Consumer finance, Acquisition of ADVA (April 2025)
• The Western Union: FX, Acquisition of eurochange (April 2025)
• Isracard: Cashflow management, Acquisition of 30% of Bizi (March 2025)
• MFK Zaymer: Microcredit, Acquisition of 51% of MKK Sodeistvie XXI (March 2025)

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