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Affirm files confidentially for IPO

The move comes less than one month after the startup raised $500 million

Alternative payments startup Affirm Holdings, better known as Affirm, today confidentially filed to go public.

The company has filed a draft S-1 registration document with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. This means that we can’t yet get details on Affirm’s financials or other business information.

The news is a bit of a surprise, considering that the company just last month raised a massive $500 million series G round of funding. 

GIC and Durable Capital Partners led the investment, which brought the company’s total raised to over $1.3 billion since its 2012 inception. Also participating in the round were returning backers Lightspeed Venture Partners, Wellington Management Company, Baillie Gifford, Spark Capital, Founders Fund and Fidelity Management & Research Company

The company’s last raise was a $300 million Series F round in April 2019 at a $2.9 billion post-money valuation. 

PayPal co-founder Max Levchin helped launch Affirm in 2012 to provide consumers a replacement for credit cards. Its mobile app offers installment loans to consumers at the point of sale.

Affirm’s outsized round, and subsequent IPO filing, is a testament to the increased popularity of the “Buy Now, Pay Later” movement, which has gained serious traction as of late – especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In November 2019, Affirm shared in a blog post that it had over 3 million consumers in its network. In a post from July 2020, it said it had over 5.6 million.

In July, the Wall Street Journal reported that Affirm was laying the groundwork for an initial public offering that could value the company by as much as $10 billion, according to people familiar with the matter. The company declined to comment on that at the time of its raise in September.

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