​SEA BNPL: Superior Unit Economics Powering Sustainable Growth

The Southeast Asian BNPL market is now valued at over USD 22 billion and continues to enjoy strong user adoption across the region. Over the years, leading BNPL players in Southeast Asia have significantly reshaped their profit and loss profiles to become more sustainable and profitable, boosting revenues by 3–4% while reducing costs by 1–2%. These improvements have been driven by the introduction of interest-bearing BNPL products, greater use of private credit funding, and stricter monitoring of borrower credit profiles.

In this article, we explore the region’s leading BNPL players, analyze how BNPL profit-and-loss profiles have evolved over time, and highlight how Southeast Asian BNPL players, through additional revenue streams and lower cost of funding, are becoming more sustainable compared to their Western counterparts.

The BNPL market in SEA is worth ~USD 22 – 24 Bn, and the growth trajectory is showing no signs of slowing!

The BNPL market in SEA is expected to grow from the current USD 22+ Bn as the use cases expand beyond online and offline shopping. The emerging use cases, such as hospital treatment, tuition fee payment, and transportation tickets, help platforms lift ticket sizes and frequency of usage while keeping perceived cost manageable for price‑sensitive users

BNPL players in SEA are showing continued profitability and entering smart partnerships to gain scale

BNPL has evolved from its cash-burning phase in SEA; leading homegrown players are already profitable at scale, with Atome, Kredivo, and Billease delivering high income and healthy returns. Further, players like Fundiin show how smart partnerships unlock underpenetrated verticals. Apart from the above, captive BNPL providers (superapps like Shopee, Grab) also continue to see a rise in usage of their BNPL services.

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Further, Klarna IPO demonstrated to investors that BNPL players can have successful exits

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Klarna IPO implications:

Sector validation: A successful Klarna IPO restored confidence that BNPL companies can access public capital markets if they demonstrate credible credit controls and diversified revenue.

Consolidation & differentiation: The IPO increases pressure on smaller BNPL players to either consolidate with larger firms or specialize to compete profitably

Product evolution toward sustainability: Demonstrating sustainable unit economics (credit performance, lower defaults) will be critical.

Additional revenue streams, alternative financing sources, helped drive the sustainability of BNPL players in SEA

BNPL sustainability in Southeast Asia has been driven by a deliberate shift in unit economics rather than top-line growth alone. Players have expanded revenue pools beyond MDR and late fees by introducing interest, processing fees, and adjacent financial products, materially lifting income per GMV. At the same time, access to lower-cost private credit funding and tighter, tech-driven underwriting have reduced structural costs.

Smarter yield structuring, cheaper source of funding, and product distribution are some of the ways SEA players have outperformed West to drive profitability

SEA BNPL leaders (Atome, Kredivo, Billease, etc.) are structurally better positioned for sustainability than many Western peers, driven by fundamentally different economics. Higher-yield products, longer tenors, and accepted fee structures create clearer paths to profitability versus Western reliance on low-MDR, zero-interest models. Deep ecosystem embedding and offline penetration further strengthen customer stickiness and reduce acquisition costs. Finally, flexible private credit funding allows SEA players to scale efficiently without the regulatory and balance-sheet constraints faced by bank-like Western BNPL models.