Revolut eyes a BNPL acquisition

Neobank Revolut is eyeing an acquisition in the buy-now-pay-later space, CEO Nik Storonsky told Axios on the sidelines of the Web Summit Rio conference last week.

Why it matters: The fintech is looking to expand its super app capabilities as many others in its space retreat.

Driving the news: "We have a team looking at acquisitions, the latest is actually buy now pay later," Storonsky said. "That's because buy-now-pay-later companies are in trouble with high interest rates, and valuations have dropped significantly."

• "We're currently discussing with several companies. Again, the question is price," he says, adding: "But we can afford to wait a while. And buy-now-pay-later companies are losing a lot of money in this environment."
• Revolut began piloting its own BNPL product in Ireland last year and is on a hiring spree. The company recently launched a presence in Brazil.

Context: Lending fintechs including BNPL businesses taken some of the heaviest valuation hits as rising interest rates make funding more expensive.

• Affirm's valuation sits at $3.4 billion, down roughly 93% from its peak. Klarna took an 85% cut last summer, valuing it at $6.7 billion.
• Similarly, Zip's valuation is down 96% since its peak at $258.7 million, while Sezzle's is down 94%, to $88.8 million.

Of note: Revolut's own valuation is under question, with shareholder Schroder recently cutting the valuation of its stake by 46%. Revolut was last valued at $33 billion.