Payments startup Affirm teams up with Fiserv in latest expansion

Affirm Holdings, the buy now/pay later startup led by former PayPal Holdings co-founder Max Levchin, will be offering its services to Fiserv’s merchant clients as part of an agreement announced Wednesday.

Merchants will be able to add an Affirm option to their checkout process later this year, the companies said in a statement. Fiserv helps almost 6 million merchant locations globally.

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Affirm is expanding its reach with merchants and the tech companies that power their payment offerings. The company struck an agreement with Verifone earlier this year to put its payment offerings on the company’s devices and online checkout systems. Amazon.com, American Airlines Group and Walmart are among companies using Affirm’s checkout options. 

Fiserv already has partnerships with buy now/pay later providers including Synchrony Financial and Zip.

San Francisco-based Affirm’s offering will be the first option that’s fully integrated with Fiserv’s Carat operating system, Fiserv said in a separate press release. 

“These deals are certainly very important to us,” Geoff Kott, Affirm’s chief revenue officer, said in a phone interview. “Our integrating into Carat will provide what we believe will be an even more seamless onboarding experience for their wide range of merchants and, importantly for us, further expand our omnichannel reach.” 

Affirm shares have plunged 70% this year. They declined almost 1% to $30.10 Tuesday in regular New York trading. The lender went public in early 2021 at $49 a share.

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