Payments App Square to Acquire Australian Company Afterpay

The payments app Square is acquiring the Australian “buy now, pay later” company Afterpay in a deal that values Afterpay at about $29 billion.

The deal will help the San Francisco-based Square, which is used by thousands of small enterprises to process their credit card transactions, to further expand in Australia, its second-biggest market. At the same time, the deal introduces Afterpay’s service to Square’s U.S. customers.

Afterpay, which allows users to stagger the cost of their purchases over regular, interest-free installments, works with more than 16 million consumers and nearly 100,000 merchants globally. As part of the deal, its founders, Anthony Eisen and Nick Molnar, will join Square. Square will also appoint one Afterpay director to its board once the deal closes.

Square plans to integrate Afterpay’s business offerings, so it can offer small merchants “buy now, pay later” at checkout.

“Square and Afterpay have a shared purpose,” Square’s chief executive, Jack Dorsey, said in a statement. “We built our business to make the financial system more fair, accessible and inclusive, and Afterpay has built a trusted brand aligned with those principles.”