Sezzle Inc. (SEZL)
SIC breadcrumb: Services > Business Services > SIC 7389 Services-Business Services, NEC
SEC company page: https://www.sec.gov/edgar/browse/?CIK=1662991. Latest filing source: 0001662991-26-000016.
Informational only. Descriptive public-record data — not a rating, forecast, or investment advice. See Disclaimer.
At a glance
- Revenue
- 450,279,000 USD verified
- Net income
- 133,130,000 USD verified
- Assets
- 400,229,000 USD verified
- Free cash flow
- 209,252,000 USD computed
- Net margin
- 29.57% computed
- Operating margin
- 39.26% computed
- Revenue YoY
- +66.08% computed
- ROE
- 78.40% computed
Peer & cluster context
Peer percentile fingerprint
Percentile = share of the N covered peers reporting that ratio whose value is lower (ties counted half); computed among grepcent-covered companies in SIC industry 7389 Services-Business Services, NEC, not the whole market. A higher percentile means a higher value of the ratio, not a better company. Ratios with fewer than 8 reporting peers are omitted. Latest reported values per company; fiscal periods may differ. Descriptive arithmetic - not a score, rating, or ranking.
Selected Fundamentals
| Metric | Value | Unit | FY | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | 450,279,000 | USD | 2025 | 2026-02-26 |
| Net income | 133,130,000 | USD | 2025 | 2026-02-26 |
| Assets | 400,229,000 | USD | 2025 | 2026-02-26 |
Financials
Annual standardized facts from SEC companyfacts as of latest extracted filing date 2026-02-26. Source: https://data.sec.gov/api/xbrl/companyfacts/CIK0001662991.json. Derived margins, ratios, and free cash flow are computed from the extracted annual SEC facts.
| Metric | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | 58,788,273 | 114,816,635 | 125,570,441 | 159,356,772 | 271,128,000 | 450,279,000 | |
| Net income | -32,392,740 | -75,168,363 | -38,093,756 | 7,098,022 | 78,522,000 | 133,130,000 | |
| Operating income | -27,932,310 | -68,682,839 | -28,434,605 | 22,200,401 | 82,246,000 | 176,789,000 | |
| Diluted EPS | -0.17 | -0.38 | -7.00 | 1.25 | 2.19 | 3.72 | |
| Operating cash flow | -24,808,861 | -72,132,050 | 8,511,848 | -25,690,433 | 130,648,000 | 209,907,000 | |
| Capital expenditures | 410,896 | 686,032 | 52,236 | 81,609 | 70,000 | 655,000 | |
| Share buybacks | 611,215 | 2,652,014 | 381,434 | 1,683,210 | 23,620,000 | 64,655,000 | |
| Assets | 174,110,773 | 223,403,576 | 172,576,538 | 212,645,283 | 298,372,000 | 400,229,000 | |
| Liabilities | 114,152,356 | 185,611,538 | 163,733,292 | 190,550,959 | 210,537,000 | 230,418,000 | |
| Stockholders' equity | 27,314,316 | 59,958,417 | 37,792,038 | 8,843,246 | 22,094,000 | 87,835,000 | 169,811,000 |
| Cash and cash equivalents | 84,285,383 | 76,983,728 | 68,279,539 | 67,624,212 | 73,185,000 | 64,054,000 | |
| Free cash flow | -25,219,757 | -72,818,082 | 8,459,612 | -25,772,042 | 130,578,000 | 209,252,000 |
Ratios
| Metric | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Net margin | -55.10% | -65.47% | -30.34% | 4.45% | 28.96% | 29.57% | |
| Operating margin | -47.51% | -59.82% | -22.64% | 13.93% | 30.33% | 39.26% | |
| Return on equity | -54.03% | -198.90% | -430.77% | 32.13% | 89.40% | 78.40% | |
| Return on assets | -18.60% | -33.65% | -22.07% | 3.34% | 26.32% | 33.26% | |
| Liabilities / equity | 1.90 | 4.91 | 18.52 | 8.62 | 2.40 | 1.36 | |
| Current ratio | 2.53 | 2.06 | 1.72 | 1.12 | 2.44 | 3.92 |
Industry Peer Context
Net margin peer context
Operating margin peer context
ROE peer context
ROA peer context
Financial Bridges
Free cash flow = operating cash flow - capital expenditures
Figure provenance: SEC companyfacts FY 2025. Operating cash flow: accession 0001662991-26-000016; concept NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities; source concepts us-gaap:NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities | Capital expenditures: accession 0001662991-26-000016; concept PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment; source concepts us-gaap:PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment | Free cash flow: accession 0001662991-26-000016; concept NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities - PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment; source concepts us-gaap:NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities; us-gaap:PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment
Financial Charts
Figure provenance: SEC companyfacts. Latest point: FY 2025 ended 2025-12-31; accession 0001662991-26-000016; filed 2026-02-26. Concept: Revenues. Source concepts: us-gaap:Revenues.
Figure provenance: SEC companyfacts. Latest point: FY 2025 ended 2025-12-31; accession 0001662991-26-000016; filed 2026-02-26. Concept: NetIncomeLoss. Source concepts: us-gaap:NetIncomeLoss.
Figure provenance: SEC companyfacts. Latest point: FY 2025 ended 2025-12-31; accession 0001662991-26-000016; filed 2026-02-26. Concept: OperatingIncomeLoss. Source concepts: us-gaap:OperatingIncomeLoss.
Figure provenance: SEC companyfacts. Latest point: FY 2025 ended 2025-12-31; accession 0001662991-26-000016; filed 2026-02-26. Concept: EarningsPerShareDiluted. Source concepts: us-gaap:EarningsPerShareDiluted.
Figure provenance: SEC companyfacts. Latest point: FY 2025 ended 2025-12-31; accession 0001662991-26-000016; filed 2026-02-26. Concept: NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities. Source concepts: us-gaap:NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities.
Figure provenance: SEC companyfacts. Latest point: FY 2025 ended 2025-12-31; accession 0001662991-26-000016; filed 2026-02-26. Concept: PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment. Source concepts: us-gaap:PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment.
Figure provenance: SEC companyfacts. Latest point: FY 2025 ended 2025-12-31; accession 0001662991-26-000016; filed 2026-02-26. Concept: PaymentsForRepurchaseOfCommonStock. Source concepts: us-gaap:PaymentsForRepurchaseOfCommonStock.
Figure provenance: SEC companyfacts. Latest point: FY 2025 ended 2025-12-31; accession 0001662991-26-000016; filed 2026-02-26. Concept: Assets. Source concepts: us-gaap:Assets.
Figure provenance: SEC companyfacts. Latest point: FY 2025 ended 2025-12-31; accession 0001662991-26-000016; filed 2026-02-26. Concept: Liabilities. Source concepts: us-gaap:Liabilities.
Figure provenance: SEC companyfacts. Latest point: FY 2025 ended 2025-12-31; accession 0001662991-26-000016; filed 2026-02-26. Concept: StockholdersEquity. Source concepts: us-gaap:StockholdersEquity.
Figure provenance: SEC companyfacts. Latest point: FY 2025 ended 2025-12-31; accession 0001662991-26-000016; filed 2026-02-26. Concept: CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue. Source concepts: us-gaap:CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue.
Figure provenance: SEC companyfacts. Latest point: FY 2025 ended 2025-12-31; accession 0001662991-26-000016; filed 2026-02-26. Concept: NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities - PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment. Source concepts: us-gaap:NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities; us-gaap:PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment.
As-reported value updates
Quarterly
Quarterly standardized facts from SEC companyfacts as of latest extracted filing date 2026-08-07. Source: https://data.sec.gov/api/xbrl/companyfacts/CIK0001662991.json.
| Quarter | End Date | Revenue | Net Income | Diluted EPS | Method |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022-Q3 | 2022-09-30 | 0.02 | reported discrete quarter | ||
| 2023-Q1 | 2023-03-31 | 0.31 | reported discrete quarter | ||
| 2023-Q2 | 2023-06-30 | 0.20 | reported discrete quarter | ||
| 2023-Q3 | 2023-09-30 | 40,844,201 | 1,294,400 | 0.23 | reported discrete quarter |
| 2023-Q4 | 2023-12-31 | 48,901,475 | 2,939,298 | derived Q4 = FY annual - nine-month YTD | |
| 2024-Q1 | 2024-03-31 | 46,978,634 | 8,007,005 | 1.34 | reported discrete quarter |
| 2024-Q2 | 2024-06-30 | 55,968,505 | 29,701,881 | 4.93 | reported discrete quarter |
| 2024-Q3 | 2024-09-30 | 69,957,691 | 15,446,241 | 2.62 | reported discrete quarter |
| 2024-Q4 | 2024-12-31 | 98,223,060 | 25,367,184 | derived Q4 = FY annual - nine-month YTD | |
| 2025-Q1 | 2025-03-31 | 104,912,000 | 36,164,000 | 1.00 | reported discrete quarter |
| 2025-Q2 | 2025-06-30 | 98,702,000 | 27,604,000 | 0.78 | reported discrete quarter |
| 2025-Q3 | 2025-09-30 | 116,796,000 | 26,671,000 | 0.75 | reported discrete quarter |
| 2025-Q4 | 2025-12-31 | 129,869,000 | 42,691,000 | derived Q4 = FY annual - nine-month YTD | |
| 2026-Q1 | 2026-03-31 | 135,539,000 | 51,303,000 | 1.47 | reported discrete quarter |
| 2026-Q2 | 2026-06-30 | 149,683,000 | 40,765,000 | 1.17 | reported discrete quarter |
Quarterly Charts
Figure provenance: SEC companyfacts. Latest point: FY 2026 ended 2026-06-30; accession 0001662991-26-000126; filed 2026-08-07. Concept: Revenues. Source concepts: us-gaap:Revenues.
Figure provenance: SEC companyfacts. Latest point: FY 2026 ended 2026-06-30; accession 0001662991-26-000126; filed 2026-08-07. Concept: NetIncomeLoss. Source concepts: us-gaap:NetIncomeLoss.
Figure provenance: SEC companyfacts. Latest point: FY 2026 ended 2026-06-30; accession 0001662991-26-000126; filed 2026-08-07. Concept: EarningsPerShareDiluted. Source concepts: us-gaap:EarningsPerShareDiluted.
Business
Read SEZL's verbatim Item 1 Business section from its latest 10-K: Business.
Risk Factors
Read SEZL's verbatim Item 1A Risk Factors from its latest 10-K: Risk Factors.
Latest quarter (10-Q)
Latest 10-Q source: 0001662991-26-000126.
ITEM 2. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND
RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations should be read together with our consolidated financial statements and related notes appearing elsewhere in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q (“Form 10-Q”). This discussion and analysis contains forward-looking statements that involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. You should review the “Forward-Looking Statements”, “Factors Affecting Results from Operations”, and “Risk Factors” sections of this Form 10-Q, and the “Risk Factors” sections on this Form 10-Q and the 2025 Form 10-K for a discussion of important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results described in or implied by the forward-looking statements described in the following discussion and analysis.
Overview
We are a purpose-driven payments company on a mission to financially empower the next generation. Launched in 2017, we have built a digital shopping and payments platform that provides consumers a flexible alternative to traditional credit. Through our platform, we aim to give consumers control of their spending, ways to save money, and access to responsible credit. Our vision is to create a digital ecosystem benefiting all of our stakeholders—including merchants, consumers, employees, communities, and investors—while continuing to drive ethical and sustainable growth.
The Sezzle Platform offers a payments solution for consumers in the United States and Canada that has the ability to instantly extend credit at the point-of-sale, allowing consumers to purchase and receive merchandise, while paying in installments over time. Consumers pay a portion of the purchase price at the point-of-sale as a down payment, and then pay off the remaining amount over time through scheduled payments. We also offer the ability to “pay-in-full” using the Sezzle Platform.
We provide consumers access to subscription products, short-term credit products at the point of sale, which may be free or subject to fees and/or interest, and access to interest-bearing loans with our third-party partner. We make a majority of our revenue from merchants, partners, consumer fees, and through our two paid versions of the core Sezzle experience: Sezzle Premium and Sezzle Anywhere. Sezzle Premium is a paid subscription service for consumers to access large, non-integrated premium merchants for a recurring fee. Sezzle Anywhere is a paid subscription service that allows consumers to use their Sezzle Virtual Card at any merchant online or in-store, subject to certain merchant, product, goods, and service restrictions, for a recurring fee. Sezzle On-Demand allows consumers who are not subscribed to Sezzle Anywhere to use the Sezzle Platform at any merchant online or in-store (subject to the same restrictions as Sezzle Anywhere) in exchange for a finance charge, which is added to the consumer’s initial down payment. Additionally, through collaboration with third-party partners we enable our consumers access to interest-bearing monthly fixed-rate installment-loan products at participating merchants for larger-ticket items (up to $15,000), which extend up to 48 months.
19
Table of Contents
Factors Affecting Results of Operations
The following key factors have affected our financial performance and are expected to impact our performance going forward.
Sustainable Business Model
Our ability to profitably scale our business long-term is reliant on creating a transparent and sustainable ecosystem of products and services that add value for all of our stakeholders, including our consumers and merchants. We stand at the intersection of digital shopping and a need for credit for consumers who prefer to use credit alternatives other than credit cards or do not have access to traditional credit products. We provide consumers access to subscription products, short-term credit products at the point of sale, which may be free or subject to fees and/or interest, and access to interest-bearing loans with our third-party partners.
We earn fees from our merchants predominately based on a percentage of the GMV value plus a fixed fee per transaction, collectively called a “merchant processing fee.” We generally pay our merchants the full transaction value upfront, net of the merchant processing fee owed to us, and assume all costs associated with consumer payment processing, fraud, and payment default. We also earn income from partners, including interchange fees through our virtual card solution, promotional incentives with third parties, and marketing revenue earned from affiliates. Our merchants have access to a toolkit we provide that can assist in the growth of their businesses. This toolkit includes marketing placements, co-branded marketing, and exclusive promotions for consumers using Sezzle.
Acquisition, Monetization, and Retention of Consumers
Our ability to profitably scale our business relies on the acquisition, monetization, and retention of consumers on the Sezzle Platform. Changes in our consumer base have had, and will continue to have, an impact on our results of operations. The success of our business depends on a consumer base that actively engages with the Sezzle Platform. It is costly for us to acquire consumers; therefore, we aim to provide offerings to our consumers that keep them engaged within our ecosystem, such as our in-app product marketplace, price comparison feature, Payment Streaks, Earn tab, and Sezzle Up. High turnover in our consumer base could result in higher than anticipated overhead costs. There is a risk that we may lose consumers for a variety of reasons, including consumers shifting to competitors or other payment options, changes in the general macroeconomic climate, or changes in our underwriting.
Additionally, our results of operations are significantly impacted by our success in monetizing our consumer base who use the Sezzle Platform. A majority of our revenue is earned through consumers using the Sezzle Platform as a payment method when making purchases, especially when using the Sezzle Virtual Card, or when consumers choose to enroll in either of our optional, paid subscription services. There is a risk that we may be unable to successfully monetize consumers who actively engage with the Sezzle Platform, which could adversely impact our results of operations.
Product Innovation
Our expanding product suite enables us to further promote our mission of financially empowering the next generation, and the adoption of these products by our consumers is expected to drive operating and financial performance.
In 2025, we launched price comparison, the Earn tab, and Sezzle Balance. Price comparison is a feature in our product marketplace that provides consumers the ability to compare the price of a product across a variety of different merchants and receive notifications if the price drops. The Earn tab allows consumers the ability to save money through coupons, discounts, and playing games. Sezzle Balance allows consumers to preload funds into a digital wallet for a simplified repayment process.
In 2026, we launched Sezzle Mobile and SezzleCash. Sezzle Mobile is a mobile phone plan embedded directly within the Sezzle app that offers unlimited talk, text, and 5G data on AT&T’s network, to our consumers. SezzleCash allows consumers to borrow funds and pay back the amount over time, plus a service fee. We also partnered with a new long-term lending provider to expand and further integrate interest-bearing monthly fixed-rate installment-loan products into the Sezzle Platform.
We continue to seek out new partners to adopt our existing products and strategize on new products to complement our platform and core products, which we believe will have an impact on the continued growth of our business.
20
Table of Contents
Credit Risk Management
A critical component of our business model is the ability to effectively manage the repayment risk inherent in allowing consumers to pay over time, as we absorb the costs of all credit losses on the credit we extend to our consumers. The provision for credit losses is a significant component of our operating expenses, and excessive exposure to consumer repayment failure may impact our results of operations. To that end, a team of Sezzle engineers and risk specialists oversee our proprietary systems, identify transactions with an elevated risk of fraud, assess the credit risk of the consumer, assign spending limits, and manage the ultimate receipt of funds. Because our consumers settle a portion of the purchase value upfront at the point of sale, we believe repayment risk is more limited relative to other traditional forms of unsecured consumer credit.
We believe our systems and processes are currently effective and allow for predominantly accurate, real-time decisions in connection with the consumer transaction approval process. As the availability of data on consumer repayment behavior grows, we believe we can better optimize our systems and ability to make real-time consumer repayment capability decisions over time. Optimizing repayment capacity decisions of our current and future consumer base is a critical component of our operations, and the optimization of our risk management strategy may influence both our profitability and our provision for credit losses and related charge-offs. We also have a collection strategy where we utilize third-party collection agencies, in addition to our internal collections process, which further helps us lower our loss rates and manage credit risk.
Maintaining our Capital-Efficient Strategy
Maintaining our funding strategy and efficient use of capital is important for the ability to grow our business. We have designed a funding strategy that we believe allows us to scale our business and drive rapid growth. Due to the short-term nature of our products, we are able to recycle capital quickly and create a multiplier effect on our committed capital. We primarily rely on revolving credit facilities to fund our receivables over time, and do not currently require additional equity contributions to directly fund product growth.
General Economic Conditions and Regulatory Climate
Our business depends on consumers transacting with merchants, which is affected by changes in general economic conditions. For example, the retail sector is affected by macroeconomic conditions such as unemployment, interest rates, consumer confidence, economic recessions, public health crises, or extended periods of uncertainty or volatility—all of which may influence consumer spending, and suppliers’ and retailers’ focus and investment in outsourcing solutions. This may subsequently impact our ability to generate income. Additionally, in weaker economic environments, consumers may have less disposable income to spend, and may be less likely to purchase products by utilizing our services. This could also cause our credit losses to increase due to consumers’ failure to repay the loans originated on the Sezzle Platform. Our industry is further impacted by numerous consumer finance and protection regulations, both domestic and international, and the prospects of new regulations, including the cost to comply with such regulations, that have an ongoing impact on our results of operations and financial performance.
Seasonality
We experience seasonality as a result of the spending patterns of our consumers. Total revenue and GMV in the fourth quarter have historically been strongest for us, in line with consumers generally spending more during the holiday shopping season. These seasonal volumes have typically been accompanied by increased charge-offs when compared to the prior three quarters. Increased charge-offs accompanying higher seasonal volumes typically result in an increase in the provision for credit losses on an absolute basis and as a perce
[Excerpt truncated for page length; source filing is linked above.]
Latest 10-K MD&A (excerpt)
Latest 10-K Item 7 source: 0001662991-26-000016. The complete FY 2025 MD&A is published at /company/SEZL/mda/fy2025/.
ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND
RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations should be read together with our consolidated financial statements and related notes appearing elsewhere in this Form 10-K. This discussion and analysis may contain forward-looking statements that involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. You should review the “Forward-Looking Statements”, “Factors Affecting Results from Operations”, and “Risk Factors” sections of this Form 10-K for a discussion of important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results described in or implied by the forward-looking statements described in the following discussion and analysis.
Overview
We are a purpose-driven payments company on a mission to financially empower the next generation. Launched in 2017, we have built a digital shopping and payments platform that provides consumers a flexible alternative to traditional credit. Through our platform, we aim to give consumers control of their spending, ways to save money, and access to responsible credit. Our vision is to create a digital ecosystem benefiting all of our stakeholders—including merchants, consumers, employees, communities, and investors—while continuing to drive ethical and sustainable growth.
The Sezzle Platform offers a payments solution for consumers in the United States and Canada that has the ability to instantly extend credit at the point-of-sale, allowing consumers to purchase and receive merchandise, while paying in installments over time. Consumers pay a portion of the purchase price at the point-of-sale as a down payment, and then pay off the remaining amount over time through scheduled payments. We also offer the ability to “pay-in-full” using the Sezzle Platform.
We provide consumers access to subscription products, short-term credit products at the point of sale, which may be free or subject to fees and/or interest, and access to interest-bearing loans with our third-party partner. We make a majority of our revenue from merchants, partners, consumer fees, and through our two paid versions of the core Sezzle experience: Sezzle Premium and Sezzle Anywhere. Sezzle Premium is a paid subscription service for consumers to access large, non-integrated premium merchants for a recurring fee. Sezzle Anywhere is a paid subscription service that allows consumers to use their Sezzle Virtual Card at any merchant online or in-store, subject to certain merchant, product, goods, and service restrictions, for a recurring fee. Sezzle On-Demand allows consumers who are not subscribed to Sezzle Anywhere to use the Sezzle Platform at any merchant online or in-store (subject to the same restrictions as Sezzle Anywhere) in exchange for a finance charge, which is added to the consumer’s initial down payment. Additionally, through collaboration with a third-party partner we enable our consumers access to interest-bearing monthly fixed-rate installment-loan products at participating merchants for larger-ticket items (up to $15,000), which extend up to 48 months.
We primarily operate in the United States and Canada, and are currently winding down and exiting operations in India and certain countries in Europe.
55
Table of Contents
Factors Affecting Results of Operations
The following key factors have affected our financial performance and are expected to impact our performance going forward.
Sustainable Business Model
Our ability to profitably scale our business long-term is reliant on creating a transparent and sustainable ecosystem of products and services that add value for all of our stakeholders, including our consumers and merchants. We stand at the intersection of digital shopping and a need for credit for consumers who prefer to use credit alternatives other than credit cards or do not have access to traditional credit products. We provide consumers access to subscription products, short-term credit products at the point of sale, which may be free or subject to fees and/or interest, and access to interest-bearing loans with our third-party partner.
We earn fees from our merchants predominately based on a percentage of the GMV value plus a fixed fee per transaction, collectively called a “merchant processing fee.” We generally pay our merchants the full transaction value upfront, net of the merchant processing fee owed to us, and assume all costs associated with consumer payment processing, fraud, and payment default. We also earn income from partners, including interchange fees through our virtual card solution, promotional incentives with third parties, and marketing revenue earned from affiliates. Our merchants have access to a toolkit we provide that can assist in the growth of their businesses. This toolkit includes marketing placements, co-branded marketing, exclusive promotions for consumers using Sezzle, and Sezzle Capital, which facilitates access to small business loans issued by third-party lender.
Acquisition, Monetization, and Retention of Consumers
Our ability to profitably scale our business relies on the acquisition, monetization, and retention of consumers on the Sezzle Platform. Changes in our consumer base have had, and will continue to have, an impact on our results of operations. The success of our business depends on a consumer base that actively engages with the Sezzle Platform. It is costly for us to acquire consumers; therefore, we aim to provide offerings to our consumers that keep them engaged within our ecosystem, such as our in-app product marketplace, price comparison feature, Payment Streaks, Earn tab, and Sezzle Up. High turnover in our consumer base could result in higher than anticipated overhead costs. There is a risk that we may lose consumers for a variety of reasons, including consumers shifting to competitors or other payment options, changes in the general macroeconomic climate, or changes in our underwriting.
Additionally, our results of operations are significantly impacted by our success in monetizing our consumer base who use the Sezzle Platform. A majority of our revenue is earned through consumers using the Sezzle Platform as a payment method when making purchases, especially when using the Sezzle Virtual Card, or when consumers choose to enroll in either of our optional, paid subscription services. There is a risk that we may be unable to successfully monetize consumers who actively engage with the Sezzle Platform, which could adversely impact our results of operations.
Product Innovation
Our expanding product suite enables us to further promote our mission of financially empowering the next generation, and the adoption of these products by our consumers is expected to drive operating and financial performance.
In 2024, we launched Payment Streaks and Sezzle On-Demand. Our free Payment Streaks program enables consumers to ascend through loyalty tiers by consistently making on-time payments, with each tier providing additional benefits to consumers. Sezzle On-Demand allows consumers who are not subscribed to Sezzle Anywhere to use the Sezzle Platform at any merchant online or in-store (subject to certain merchant, product, goods, and service restrictions) in exchange for a finance charge, which is added to the consumer’s initial down payment.
In 2025, we launched price comparison, the Earn tab, and Sezzle Balance. Price comparison is a feature in our product marketplace that provides consumers the ability to compare the price of a product across a variety of different merchants and receive notifications if the price drops. The Earn tab allows consumers the ability to save money through coupons, discounts, and playing games. Sezzle Balance allows consumers to preload funds into a digital wallet for a simplified repayment process.
We continue to seek out new partners to adopt our existing products and strategize on new products to complement our platform and core products, which we believe will have an impact on the continued growth of our business.
56
Table of Contents
Credit Risk Management
A critical component of our business model is the ability to effectively manage the repayment risk inherent in allowing consumers to pay over time, as we absorb the costs of all credit losses on the credit we extend to our consumers. The provision for credit losses is a significant component of our operating expenses, and excessive exposure to consumer repayment failure may impact our results of operations. To that end, a team of Sezzle engineers and risk specialists oversee our proprietary systems, identify transactions with an elevated risk of fraud, assess the credit risk of the consumer, assign spending limits, and manage the ultimate receipt of funds. Because our consumers settle a portion of the purchase value upfront at the point of sale, we believe repayment risk is more limited relative to other traditional forms of unsecured consumer credit.
We believe our systems and processes are currently effective and allow for predominantly accurate, real-time decisions in connection with the consumer transaction approval process. As the availability of data on consumer repayment behavior grows, we believe we can better optimize our systems and ability to make real-time consumer repayment capability decisions over time. Optimizing repayment capacity decisions of our current and future consumer base is a critical component of our operations, and the optimization of our risk management strategy may influence both our profitability and our provision for credit losses and related charge-offs. We also have a collection strategy where we utilize third-party collection agencies, in addition to our internal collections process, which further helps us lower our loss rates and manage credit risk.
Maintaining our Capital-Efficient Strategy
Maintaining our funding strategy and efficient use of capital is important for the ability to grow our business. We have designed a funding strategy that we believe allows us to scale our business and drive rapid growth. Due to the short-term nature of our products, we are able to recycle capital quickly and create a multiplier effect on our committed capital. We primarily rely on revolving credit facilities to fund our receivables over time, and do not currently require additional equity contributions to directly fund product growth.
General Economic Conditions and Regulatory Climate
Our business depends on consumers transacting with merchants, which is affected by changes in general economic conditions. For example, the retail sector is affected by macroeconomic conditions such as unemployment, interest rates, consumer confidence, economic recessions, public health crises, or extended periods of uncertainty or volatility—all of which may influence consumer spending, and suppliers’ and retailers’ focus and investment in outsourcing solutions. This may subsequently impact our ability to generate income. Additionally, in weaker economic environments, consumers may have less disposable income to spend, and may be less likely to purchase products by utilizing our services. This could also cause our credit losses to increase due to consumers’ failure to repay the loans originated on the Sezzle Platform. Our industry is further impacted by numerous consumer finance and protection regulations, both domestic and international, and the prospects of new regulations, including the cost to comply with such regulations, that have an ongoing impact on our results of operations and financial performance.
Seasonality
We experience seasonality as a result of the spending patterns of our consumers. Total revenue and GMV in the fourth quarter have historically been strongest for us, in line with consumers generally spending more during the holiday shopping season. These seasonal volumes have typically been accompanied by increased charge-offs when com
[Excerpt truncated for page length; the complete text is on the linked full-MD&A page.]
MD&A history
Prior-year 10-K MD&A spans are extracted from SEC filings with the same bounded parser used for the latest filing. Each year's full verbatim text is on its own sub-page.
Macro cross-references for SEZL
- PAYEMS - All Employees, Total Nonfarm
- CES0500000003 - Average Hourly Earnings of All Employees, Total Private
- DGS10 - Market Yield on U.S. Treasury Securities at 10-Year Constant Maturity