Uplift, the only enterprise Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) solution serving the world’s top travel brands, is seeing significant signs of pent-up demand for leisure travel and growing consumer interest in flexible payment options when booking trips.
Despite the impact of COVID-19 on travel, Uplift has signed significant new partnerships with major travel brands and has achieved 72% growth in monthly transaction revenue in Q4 of 2020 and recently announced that it secured a $68 million credit line from Atalaya Capital Management. The company’s Buy Now, Pay Later solutions are helping to lay the foundation for the travel industry’s strong recovery in 2021.
“Buy Now, Pay Later is not a new concept and has already proven its value internationally. It will be the economic kickstarter needed to ignite the travel industry,” said Uplift’s CEO Brian Barth. “There’s a certain amount of pleasure derived after you book a trip and anticipate all these new life experiences. This anticipation is driving travel bookings now for future vacations to give people something to look forward to.”
Starting Q2, Uplift has signed new partnerships for Buy Now, Pay Later solutions with the following travel partners:
- Airlines: Aeromexico, Air Canada, Alaska Airlines, Azul Brazilian Airlines, Frontier Airlines and Porter Airlines.
- Cruise Lines: Hurtigruten, MSC Cruises, Uniworld and Virgin Voyages.
- Tour Operators and Travel Agencies: Air Canada Vacations, CostSaver, Grand European Travel, Insight Vacations, Transat and Trafalgar
Unlike other Buy Now, Pay Later solutions that drive customers to their own marketplace, Uplift works with merchants to reinforce merchant loyalty and repeat purchases. Consumers simply select Uplift Pay Monthly at checkout when booking their trips.
Buy Now, Pay Later is already enjoying explosive growth in the retail space and becoming a mainstream part of eCommerce for Millennials and Gen Z consumers. Buy Now, Pay Later is expected to grow from 0.9% of eCommerce transactions in North America in 2020 to 3% by 2023. (Worldpay Retail Global Payments Report 2020) Travel brands are the next big growth opportunity and see Buy Now, Pay Later as a marketing strategy to capture increased leisure traveller demand. This is especially important in today’s economic environment as consumers look to manage their expenses over time.
In addition, the company is also announcing a new Board Member Jeffrey Power, who manages Apple’s $200B+ investment portfolio as the Head of and Chief Investment Officer of Braeburn Capital, an Apple Inc. company.
