The firm, which employs 350 in Chicago and 400 overall, is hiring aggressively as it adds large financial services clients like U.K. banking giant Barclays, which tapped Amount last month to operate the bank’s new “buy now, pay later” product for U.S. merchants.
“We’re hiring a bunch of engineers. We’re hiring a bunch of product people,” CEO Adam Hughes said in an interview.
WestCap is led by former Airbnb Chief Financial Officer Laurence Tosi. Other investors in the latest round include Hanaco Ventures, Goldman Sachs, Invus Opportunities and Barclays U.S. Goldman Sachs led the previous round late last year.
Amount provides the technological capabilities for financial institutions lending online to consumers or offering the popular buy now, pay later options for consumers buying products online. With more and larger consumer purchases happening digitally since the onset of the pandemic, paying for products in equal installments over time is becoming prevalent.
Hughes said about 30 percent of the transactions Amount processes are currently of the buy now, pay later variety. He expects that to be half Amount’s volume in the near future. Since splitting from Avant, Amount has processed more than 100 million transactions.
Amount’s valuation rose more than 50 percent since the equity round in last year’s fourth quarter, demonstrating how hot this part of the fintech universe is. With banks speeding to offer more and better digital transactions, either directly to consumers or as partners with retailers, many are looking to third-party technology vendors to make it happen quickly.
In addition to funding hiring, the equity infusion could go for acquisitions, as Amount seeks to beef up its staff and capabilities, Hughes said.
It likely is the last private equity Amount will raise, Hughes acknowledged. The next step, when it comes, will be the public markets, either through an initial public offering or a transaction with one of the growing number of “blank check” public companies.