Affirm

“A platform specifically designed to help you say yes to the things you want while keeping you out of unhealthy debt”

Founded: 2012 in California, USA Category: Financial Technology Primary office: San Francisco, CA Core technical team: San Francisco, CA Status: Private Employees: 500 Amount raised: $1 billion (7 rounds – April 2019)

OVERVIEW Financial technology company focusing on novel lending strategy Proprietary algorithms to determine what customer can truly afford (with flexible payments up to 12-months and no late fees) Usable at both cyber stores and brick and mortar   PERFORMANCE METRICS Valuation – $2.9 billion (2019) Revenue – $30 million Annual loan volume: $2 billion   ACHIEVEMENTS Company valued at $2.9 billion (April 2019) Successfully changed consumer lending paradigm – provides better alternative that eradicates the accessibility/eligibility limitations experienced with credit cards and traditional Business-to-Business (B2B) financing. Zero to low interest rate compared to traditional banks/finance institutions Backed by a large Venture-capital with over 20 Investors/ series F (2019) 3 million shoppers

Sells

• Consumer Loan/Product purchase financing
• Travel Finance
• Installment loans

Channels

• Partners with over 2000 merchants including Walmart, Expedia, Cheap Air, etc. to provide online/point of sale loans to customers.
• Partners with several e-commerce platform such as Shopify, Big commerce, Zen cart, etc.

Competencies

• Current CEO, Max Levchin, also Pay-Pal co-founder
• Launched Consumer App to allow for financing at any retailer
• Leverages Big Data Analytics, including social media and customer shopping pattern, to determine credibility

Resources

Assertions That Best Describe What the Company Did to Scale Early, Rapidly & Securely

1. Increase sales by applying big-data analytics to produce information about users, suppliers and customers
2. Outsource infrastructure management to increase profit
3. Increase the company’s value by continuously seeking and receiving funding to support the company’s plan to scale and improve its image in the marketplace.
4. Increase value by arranging and directing a community comprised of groups that are external and internal to the company and connect everything needed to scale.
5. Enter a new market by partnering with or purchasing local firms to increase sales
6. Develop and sell products that address a problem, job to be done or a need that is shared by a large and growing number of individuals and organizations in various regions to increase sales.
7. Increase value by being responsible and accountable for creating and making visible the quantifiable benefits the company delivers its stakeholders, including customers, partners, investors, members of the company’s value chain, society and others.
8. Increase market share by selling products and services that the target market perceives to be better than available alternatives

References

• Affirm website. https://www.affirm.com/
• Alley, S. (2018). ‘PayPal Co-founder: Tech is still where Innovation is’. [online] CNBC News. Available at: https://www.cnbc.com/video/2018/12/18/paypal-co-founder-tech-where-innovation-affirm-technology-online-lender-trump.html
• CNBC (2019). ‘Meet the 2019 CNBC disruptor companies. [online] CNBC News. Available at:
• https://www.cnbc.com/cnbc-disruptors/
• Crunchbase (2019). Affirm. https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/affirm#section-overview
• Owler (2019). Affirm. https://www.owler.com/company/affirm
• Agar, I. (2019). ‘Affirm scores $300m Series F at reported $2.9billion valuation’. [online] Pitchbook. Available at: https://pitchbook.com/news/articles/affirm-scores-300m-series-f-at-reported-29b-valuation
• Walmart News (2019). Affirm and Wal-Mart announce Omnichannel partnership. [online] Available at: https://corporate.walmart.com/newsroom/2019/02/27/affirm-and-walmart-announce-omnichannel-partnership

Contributors

• Yinka Olanrewaju-Olawepo
• Dan Craigen
• Tony Bailetti