Block rebranded its BNPL solution Afterpay to Cash App Afterpay, embedding the service directly into Cash App. The company wrote in its announcement:
“The two leading fintech brands are becoming one, expanding access to its Pay-in-4 product to eligible Americans from today and access to Pay Monthly in coming months.”
The move allows Cash App's 57M monthly users to access BNPL products when shopping at partner merchants and strengthens Block's vision of the app as an all-in-one financial platform that combines banking, payments, investing, and now BNPL for consumers.
Moving forward, customers of Afterpay will be able to manage their BNPL loans directly within Cash App. Existing Afterpay customers will receive the same checkout experience managed through their original Afterpay account, inclusive of the new branding.
Block acquired Afterpay in 2022 for $29B, marking one of the largest fintech acquisitions to date. Cash App first integrated Afterpay into its app shortly after the acquisition, but they've since been run as separate businesses.
It's not a bad idea in my opinion to merge the two apps together. Whereas customers could only manage their installment loans through the Afterpay app, they can do a lot more through Cash App. Pushing users towards Cash App to manage their loans now opens the door for them to use more of Cash App's services. And the move doesn't impact Afterpay's relationship or integration with existing merchants on the buying side.