Sezzle closes $100 million debt facility to finance online shopping over holiday season

Sezzle Inc. on Monday said it raised $100 million through a debt issuance, which it will use to finance online consumer purchases at retailers that run its electronic payments system.

The debt facility takes the place of a line of credit that Sezzle arranged for the same purpose a year ago.

The new debt facility has lower costs for the Minneapolis-based financial tech company, a spokeswoman said, and makes the full amount accessible to the company. That gives Sezzle more than three times the capital it had a year ago to fund purchases during the holiday season.

The line of credit it arranged last year was comprised of $30 million under committed terms, with the remainder subject to further negotiation with its lender. In the 12 months ended Sept. 30, the previous line of credit had helped Sezzle finance $157 million in online purchases by consumers.

"This new facility will enable us to expand our payments to merchant clients ahead of collection of accounts owed by end customers, a critical part of what makes Sezzle so attractive to retailers," Charlie Youakim, the company's chief executive, said in a statement.

Sezzle provides a "buy-now-pay-later" payments service to online retailers and shoppers in the U.S. and Canada. Using its system, shoppers can split the cost of purchases into four interest-free installments. The firm gets revenue from fees collected from retailers.

The company went public on the Australia Stock Exchange earlier this year, raising capital in a market where buy-now-pay-later payments are common. Its shares rose 12 Australian cents to A$2.52 on Monday in Sydney.