The story
The company was founded by Larry Diamond and Peter Gray in 2013 as Zip Money, and offered a digital credit option to customers. The organisation soon launched a second product, Zip Pay, to cater for everyday purchases, including retail and health. In 2015, Zip was listed on the Australian Securities Exchange as zipMoney Limited (ASX: ZML). In 2016, Zip acquired Pocketbook, one of the most popular finance apps in Australia. In 2017, Zip secured a $260 million debt facility with $200 million in funding from National Australia Bank, and a $40 million equity investment from Westpac. Zip was also ranked #7 on Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500 APAC. In December 2017, the company changed its name from ‘ZipMoney Limited’ to ‘Zip Co Limited’, now known simply as Zip. In January 2018, the ASX ticker code was changed from ‘ZML’ to ‘ZIP’.
In August 2018, the Zip app was launched in the Google Play Store and then the Apple App Store later that year.
In August 2019, Zip Co acquired 100% of the shares in PartPay Limited, a Buy Now, Pay Later company from New Zealand with early operations in the UK. The acquisition accelerated Zip’s global expansion.
In September 2019, Zip Co acquired SpotCap ANZ to enter the unsecured business lending market.
In December 2019, Zip Co announced that it has received firm commitments to raise $60 million before costs via a placement of 16,216,216 ordinary shares to fund its global expansion.
In June 2020, Zip Co bought the remaining shares in New York-based "buy now, pay later" company Quadpay Inc for $430 million as part of its efforts to expand globally. 14% interest in Quadpay was already owned by Zip which it bought as part of its deal with New Zealand-based PartPay for $84 million in August 2019.
As of March 2021, Zip operates in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand. They are also minority shareholders in Payflex in South Africa and Twisto in the Czech Republic.
In October 2021, Zip Co acquired Middle Eastern buy now pay later platform Spotii.
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In November 2021, Zip Co acquired European buy now pay later platform Twisto.
In April 2022, Zip changed their ASX ticker code from 'Z1P' to 'ZIP'
In July 2022, Zip Co ceased operations in Singapore.
In October 2022, Zip Co began a wind down from the United Kingdom and ceased operations.
In mid-July 2026, Zip Co announced that it would withdraw from the New Zealand market, effective 16 August 2026.
Trademark dispute
In May 2026, the High Court of Australia upheld a Federal Court of Australia ruling that Zip Co had infringed the intellectual property of Firstmac Limited, another Australian financial services provider which registered "Zip" as a trademark for a loan product in 2004. While Zip Co mounted a defence of "honest concurrent use", the High Court found that Zip Co had not acted honestly and had in fact deliberately targeted Firstmac's trademark.
From Wikipedia’s article on Zip Co, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4