Afterpay

Company: Afterpay Touch Group Ltd.

Brand value: US$1,152 million

Change since 2018: NEW ENTRY!

Headquarter city: Melbourne

Industry: Payments

Year formed: 2017

Afterpay is a credit service launched just two years ago; it has grown fast, and by the end of 2018 had 2.3 million users in Australia, New Zealand and the United States. Primarily targeting young women shoppers, in Q3 2018 it was acquiring 3,300 new customers a day. Recent high profile partnerships such as Kmart, which now offers Afterpay on online orders of between AU$70 and AU$1,000, have further helped to accelerate the brands success. The brand’s expansion has not been without controversy; Afterpay’s “Broke AF” campaign in 2018 urging consumers to treat themselves and “Afterpay it” regardless of their financial situation. Almost a quarter of Afterpay’s income comes from late fees, with the remainder from retailer commissions; around 95 percent of payments incur no fees. Afterpay is a darling of the fintech sector, but is contentious because it is not currently governed by credit laws, and consumers have been warned that failure to make payments on time could affect their access to credit in future.