Travel payment startup Fly Now Pay Later has raised £35 million to develop its flexible payment technology for use once coronavirus-related travel restrictions ease.
Asset management firm Revenio Capital led the Series A round, which is a combination of equity and debt funding, with Shawbrook Bank and BCI Finance also participating.
With Fly Now Pay Later, consumers can pay for travel in installments for up to 12 months via travel providers such as Lastminute.com, TravelUp and the Moresand Group.
Users can book flights, hotels, car hire and insurance from as low as 0% APR, which co-founder and CEO Jasper Dykes believes will make it “easier and more flexible for people to spread the cost of big-ticket trips and flights.”
In addition to developing its proprietary payment technology, the British startup with use the funding to build a consumer payments app and expand its business in Europe, starting with Germany in the second quarter of 2020 and France later this year.
“It’s predicted that once lockdown restrictions begin to ease, airlines will need to recoup costs - leading to unavoidable price rises in the future There are tens of thousands of people who have families around the world who need a frictionless way to finance their flights. Likewise, for many businesses to operate internationally, flying is an essential requirement for employees,” Dykes says.
“Fly Now Pay Later offers travelers a flexible and affordable way to pay for travel. By removing financial boundaries, we hope to open the post-COVID-19 world for travelers and reconnect people with their friends and families around the globe.”
Founded in 2015, Fly Now Pay Later has 70 employees in the U.K.