Afterpay asks investors for $300 million to chase 400% increase in underlying sales by 2022

Buy-now-pay-later provider Afterpay is asking investors for $300 million to help it realise an ambitious target of a four-fold increase in underlying sales over the next three years.

The fast-growing company announced plans to go cap in hand to investors on Tuesday, spruiking plans for international expansion alongside a possible acquisition and plans to scale its SME business.

Afterpay believes it could clear $20 billion through its platform in the 2022 financial year by throwing new capital back into growth, more than four times higher than the $4.7 billion in underlying sales it booked for the 11 months to March 2019.

Small-business retailers have punched tickets for the Afterpay gravy train in earnest over the last three years as the company has gone from strength to strength financially.

But the company clearly believes there’s still ground to cover, saying the new funds would be used in part for “scaling SMB [small-to-medium business] capability ahead of the curve”.

SmartCompany asked the company for additional detail about its plans on Tuesday but the company was unavailable for comment before deadline. 

Investors are being offered 13.8 million new shares at a floor price of $21.75, a 10% discount on closing price last week.

Founders Anthony Eisen and Nick Molnar are also cashing out part of their stake in what the company dubbed a “secondary sell down”, offloading 2.05 million shares each alongside group head David Hancock, who will sell 400,000.

Two new US-based investors, Tiger Management and Woodson Capital, have already inked a deal to gobble up the existing shares, or whatever new shares are left, and will own 1.9% of the company once all is said and done.

Eisen and Molnar have agreed to forgo selling any more shares for 120 days and will remain Afterpay’s largest shareholders with a combined 8.1% stake.