Australia-based buy now pay later (BNPL) provider Zip is set to close down its money management app, Pocketbook, next month.
The closure is said to be driven by difficult market conditions being faced by the players in the BNPL industry because of growing interest rates as well as increasing bad debts and stricter regulations.
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In 2016, Zip bought Pocketbook for $7.5m from Sydney-based founders Bosco Tan and Alvin Singh.
Around 800,000 users have been using the app, which is designed to offer free budget planning and personal finance services.
Zip chief product officer Travis Tyler said: “Zip’s operating environment has changed significantly in the last few months and as a result we have adapted our strategy accordingly in order to accelerate our path to global profitability.
“With this in mind, Zip has decided to close the Pocketbook app in order to reprioritise resources and focus on delivering sustainable profitability in our core ANZ market.”
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By GlobalDataZip further noted that the company’s shares were fallen over 93% last year.
Despite reporting an 89% increase in revenue in the first half of this year, the company posted $172.7m in losses.
Post the closure of Pocketbook, all personal data of the users such as email ids, names, mobile numbers as well as financial account and transaction details will be deleted, said the app on its website.
Meanwhile, Zip also announced its plan to launch a similar app for its customers over the next year.
