The story
Sezzle was founded in 2016, by Charlie Youakim, who had previously led Passport Parking, Paul Paradis, Killian Brackey, Emmanuel Isaac, Mia Peroff, and Rishi Mukherjee in Minneapolis. Sezzle raised over US$17 million in equity capital prior to its IPO, where it raised an additional US$30 million. The company also has a US$100 million debt facility from Bastion capital.
Sezzle's initial product was next-business-day ACH payments and a cashback reward system, later iterated changing to a “buy now, pay later” model in 2017. Sezzle launched its product to the United States in August 2017. It raised US$9.1 million in mid-2018, and gained a US$100 million debt financing from Bastion Capital Corporation by the end of the year. At that time, it hired former US Bank executive Karen Hartje as its chief financial officer and former Target and TD Bank executive Jamie Kirkpatrick as its chief risk officer.
In April 2019, Sezzle raised US$5.7 million, partnered with Bank of America Merchant Services to implement their digital card processing solution within the payment platform, and expanded to Canada a few months later, opening its headquarters in Toronto, Ontario. Sezzle listed on the Australian Securities Exchange at AU$1.22 a share on 30 July 2019 and raised US$30 million. In December 2019, it gained a US$100 million line of credit.
In February 2020, Sezzle announced that it topped 1 million active customers.
On 1 June 2020, Sezzle reincorporated as a Public Benefit Corporation, making Sezzle the first “buy now, pay later” corporation with such a status. Later that summer, the company raised US$55 million from its equity in the ASX, and hired former PayPal executive Veronica Katz as its chief revenue officer, while Paradis became the company's first president.
On 6 August 2020, Sezzle CEO Charlie Youakim said the company is testing its service offering in India, with an expected launch at the end of the year. The move would mark its first major expansion outside the US and Canadian marketplaces.
In 2021, it was revealed that Sezzle had begun operating in the Brazilian market. Also in that same year, US major retailer Target Corporation announced that it had chosen Sezzle as it preferred "Buy Now, Pay Later" partner making it the first top 5 US retailer to partner with a BNPL provider. Also in 2021, Sezzle CEO Charlie Youakim was selected by Worth Magazine as one its distinguished "100 Most Worthy" list for his work to financially empowering young consumers across the world.
In February 2022, Sezzle entered into a binding agreement to be acquired by Australian-owned Zip Co by way of statutory merger, implying Sezzle's value at A$491 million at the time of announcement.
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In July 2022, Sezzle and Zip mutually agreed to terminate their previously announced merger agreement for the proposed acquisition of Sezzle by Zip. As part of the mutual termination, Sezzle will receive from Zip U.S. $11 million, to cover, among other things, Sezzle’s legal, accounting, and other costs associated with the transaction.
On June 9, 2025, Sezzle sued Shopify, alleging in a federal lawsuit that Shopify's e-commerce marketplace damaged its business and violated antitrust laws.
From Wikipedia’s article on Sezzle, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.7