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Stay-at-home consumers and stimulus checks have been a boon1 for online installment financing， digital banks and day trading. 消費者宅在家里，手里握着经济刺激补助金，这对于在线分期付款、数字银行和日内交易来说可谓是一大福音。
In 2015， Nick Molnar was living with his parents in Sydney， Australia， and selling jewelry from a desktop computer in his childhood bedroom. Hocking everything from $250 Seiko watches to $10，000 engagement rings， the 25-year-old had gotten so good at online marketing that he had become Australia’s top seller of jewelry on eBay， shipping thousands of packages a day.
That same year， he teamed up with Anthony Eisen， a former investment banker who was 19 years his senior and lived across the street. They cofounded Afterpay， an online service that allows shoppers from the U.S.， U.K.， Australia， New Zealand and Canada to pay for small-ticket2 items like shoes and shirts in four interest-free payments over six weeks. “I was a Millennial who grew up in the 2008 crisis， and I saw this big shift away from credit to debit，” the now 30-year-old Molnar says today. Either lacking credit cards or fearful of racking up3 high-interest-rate debt on their credit cards， Molnar’s generation was quick to embrace this new way to buy and get merchandise now， while paying a little later.
Five years later， Molnar and Eisen， who each own roughly 7% of the company， have become billionaires—during a pandemic. After initially tanking at the start of lockdowns， shares of Afterpay are up nearly tenfold， thanks to a surge in business tied to e-commerce sales. In the second quarter of 2020， it handled $3.8 billion of transactions， an increase of 127% versus the same period a year earlier.
Buy now， pay later
They are not the only ones whose fortunes have taken off in the last few months. According to Forbes’ analysis， at least five fintech entrepreneurs including the two Aussies have been vaulted4 into the billionaire rankings by the pandemic. Others include Chris Britt， founder of digital bank Chime， and Vlad Tenev and Baiju Bhatt， the co-CEOs of “free” stock trading app Robinhood5. Several other founders from such companies as Klarna have also gotten boosts and are suddenly approaching billionaire status.
For a sizable crop of consumer-facing and payments-related fintechs， the virus has delivered a gust of growth， just as it has for e-commerce behemoth Amazon and work-from-home players Zoom6， Slack7 and DocuSign8.
“Consumer fintech adoption was already strong prepandemic， especially among the 20s to early-40s age group，” says Victoria Treyger， a general partner who leads fintech investing at Felicis Ventures9. “The pandemic has become a growth rocket， fueling the rapid acceleration of adoption across all age groups， including 40- to 60-year-olds.” Several Covid-driven developments are helping specific types of fintech players. For example， consumers’ shift to more online spending and delivery services is a boon to certain companies powering payments. The $2 trillion-plus CARES Act Congress passed in March， with its $1，200-per-adult stimulus checks， student loan payment holiday and （now expired） $600-a-week unemployment supplements， helped many Americans keep financially above water—and some digital banks like Chime to prosper.
Debit it！
In the second quarter of 2020， amid Covid lockdowns and fears， consumers slashed spending on travel， restaurants and luxury items they usually put on their credit cards， but continued to spend on necessities and smaller items—the sort of things they’re more likely to pay for with debit cards. And debit cards （rather than checks or credit cards） are the spending vehicle most frequently offered by fintech neobanks like SoFi， Dave and MoneyLion.
San Francisco-based digital bank Chime， in particular， has used the stimu-lus payments to its advantage. In mid-April， about a week before the $1，200 government-stimulus checks started hitting Americans’ accounts， the company advanced customers that money， eventually extending over $1.5 billion. “Following the stimulus advance， we had the largest day for new enrollments in the history of the company，” CEO Britt reports.
Today， Chime’s annualized revenue is running at a $600 million rate. Then there’s the Robinhood phenomenon. The boredom of being stuck at home， wild stock market swings and government stimulus checks have turned some Millennials and Generation-Zers10 into day traders and options players. Robinhood’s fundraising round in September gave it an $11.7 billion valuation and its cofounders a paper net worth of $1 billion each.
If there’s one fintech segment that has been an unalloyed11 pandemic winner， it’s the business Afterpay is in： online point-of-sale installment financing. It’s benefiting from both consumers’ shift to online buying and their reluctance， in these uncertain economic times， to take on new credit card debt.
Two of the three co-founders of Klarna， the Swedish payments group， Sebastian Siemiatkowski and Niklas Adalberth， met while flipping patties12 at a Burger King in Sweden. They pioneered the buy-now， pay-later model in fintech， calling it “try before you buy” and letting people own products for 30 days before making their first payment. The pandemic has catapulted Klarna’s business onto a steep trajectory. By the end of 2020’s first half， its U.S. customer base hit 9 million， up 550% from the same period the year before. Globally， 55，000 consumers are downloading the Klarna app every day. When it raised a new round of funding in September， its valuation nearly doubled from a year ago， hitting $10.7 billion.
Another fintech winner in the installment-payment business is Silicon Valley-based Affirm， the creation of serial entrepreneur Max Levchin， a founder of PayPal. It has enjoyed a special Covid kicker13 from pricey home fitness gear. Since 2015， it has powered financing for Peloton， whose sales have surged as affluent young consumers， missing the motivation of group exercise classes， have flocked to buy the $2，000-plus stationary bikes with their streaming workout classes. Affirm also now finances purchases of Mirror14， the hot $1，495 in-home fitness coaching device.
Of course， the fintech companies’ current lofty valuations depend on consumer spending staying strong and consumers retaining some of the online shopping habits they’ve developed over the past year. With the future course of Covid-19 unknown， there are no guarantees. But for now， these fintechs are riding high. ■
2015年，尼克·莫爾纳和父母一起住在澳大利亚悉尼。他在儿时的卧室里，用台式电脑销售珠宝首饰，从250美元的精工手表到1万美元的订婚戒指，各种饰品应有尽有。当年25岁的莫尔纳非常擅长网络营销，他那时已经成为易贝网上澳大利亚最大的珠宝卖家，一天能发出几千个包裹。
同年，莫尔纳开始与前投资银行家安东尼·艾森合作。艾森比他年长19岁，住在街对面。他们共同创建了Afterpay支付平台。通过这种在线服务，美国、英国、澳大利亚、新西兰和加拿大的消费者可以享受六周内零利息分四期付款，购买鞋子、衬衫等小额商品。现年30岁的莫尔纳说：“我是在2008年金融危机中成长起来的千禧一代，目睹了从信贷到借贷的巨大转变。”莫尔纳这一代人要么没有信用卡，要么担心累积起信用卡的高息欠款，他们很快就欣然接受了这种先买后付的新型支付方式。
五年后，各自拥有公司约7%股份的莫尔纳和艾森，疫情期间成了亿万富豪。疫情防控初期，Afterpay的股价大幅下跌。之后，由于电子商务销售量剧增，公司股价猛涨至近10倍。2020年第二季度，Afterpay处理了38亿美元的交易，比上年同期增长127%。
先买后付
在过去的几个月里，不仅仅是莫尔纳和艾森实现了财富飙升。据《福布斯》报告，包括这两个澳大利亚人在内，至少有五位金融科技企业家因疫情而财富激增，荣登亿万富豪排行榜。另外三位是数字银行Chime的创始人克里斯·布里特，以及“免费”股票交易应用程序Robinhood联合首席执行官弗拉德·特涅夫和拜珠·巴特。Klarna等几家公司的创始人也身家大涨，陡近亿万。
对于一大批面向消费者的支付类金融科技公司而言，新冠疫情带来了强势发展机遇，正如电子商务巨头亚马逊与提供居家办公软件服务的公司Zoom、Slack和DocuSign因疫情而得到迅猛发展一样。
“在新冠疫情暴发之前，消费者对金融科技的接受度就已经很高，尤其是20多岁至40岁出头的人群。”法利思创投负责金融科技投资的普通合伙人维多利亚·特雷格表示，“疫情就像催化剂，让所有年龄段的用户更快接受了金融科技，其中包括40至60岁的人群。”
新冠疫情带来的某些影响，正在助推特定类型的金融科技公司发展。例如，消费者更加青睐于线上消费和快递服务，这对某些支付公司而言是利好消息。2020年3月，美国国会通过了拨款总额超过2万亿美元的《冠状病毒援助、救济和经济安全法》，为每个符合条件的成年人提供1200美元的刺激补助金，允许学生暂停偿还助学贷款，还有向失业人员发放每周600美元的补贴（现已到期）。这帮助许多美国人维持基本生活——也促进了Chime等数字银行企业蓬勃发展。 借贷
2020年第二季度，疫情防控形势严峻，人们恐慌不安，大大削减了外出旅游、餐馆就餐和购买奢侈品的支出，这些消费通常用信用卡支付。但是，他们仍会购买生活必需品和小件商品，这些东西则更可能用借记卡支付。借记卡（而非支票或信用卡）是SoFi、Dave和MoneyLion等金融科技新生代银行最常提供的消费工具。
总部位于旧金山的数字银行Chime就利用政府的经济刺激计划为自己赢得了商机。2020年4月中旬，在美国人收到1200美元政府经济刺激补助前一周左右，Chime向客户预付了这笔钱，最终发放金额超过15亿美元。首席执行官布里特称：“提前支付补助金后，我们迎来了公司历史上新增注册人数最多的一天。”
如今，Chime的年化营收已达6亿美元。疫情催生了Robinhood 现象。居家的百无聊赖、股市的剧烈波动、政府的经济刺激补助，诸多条件促使千禧一代和Z世代中的一些人玩起了日内交易的期权。在2020年9月的一轮融资中，Robinhood估值达到117亿美元，两位联合创始人的账面净资产各达到10亿美元。
如果说在疫情期间，金融科技市场有真正的赢家，那就是Afterpay所从事的业务：线上销售点分期付款。这主要得益于两个方面：一方面是消费者转向网上购物，另一方面是由于经济形势不确定，他们不愿意承担新的信用卡债务。
瑞典支付集团Klarna有三位联合创始人，塞巴斯蒂安·谢米亚特科夫斯基和尼克拉斯·阿达尔贝特是其中两位，他们是在瑞典一家汉堡王店做肉饼时认识的。两人首创了金融科技领域“现在购买、以后付款”的模式，称为“先试后买”。按照这种模式，人们可以在拥有商品30天后才开始付第一笔钱。
新冠疫情使Klarna的业务量骤增。截至2020年上半年，Klarna的美国客户量达到900万，比上年同期增长550%。在全球范围内，每天有5.5万名消费者下载Klarna应用程序。9月份，Klarna完成新一轮融资，其估值达到107亿美元，较前一年几乎翻了一番。
总部位于硅谷的金融科技企业Affirm也是分期付款业务的一大赢家。该企业由连续创业者马克斯·列夫琴创立，他也是贝宝的创始人之一。高价居家健身器材给Affirm带来了特殊的“疫情红利”。自2015年以来，Affirm一直为Peloton提供融資服务。有钱的年轻消费者怀念起热火朝天的集体健身课，纷纷花2000多美元购买带有流媒体健身课程的动感单车。由此，Peloton销售额大幅飙升。Affirm现在还为购买Mirror智能健身镜的人提供融资服务，Mirror是一款热门的家用健身教练设备，售价1495美元。
当然，金融科技公司目前的高估值依赖于消费者支出保持强劲势头，还要指望消费者保留过去一年形成的一些网购习惯。由于疫情的未来走向尚未可知，上述两个方面都无法保证。但就目前而言，这些金融科技公司发展势头正猛。 □
（译者为“《英语世界》杯”翻译大赛获奖者）
1 boon非常有用的东西;益处。 2 ticket（货物上标明价目、尺码等的）标签，签条。
3 rack sth up累积。 4 vault（用手支撑或撑杆）跳跃，跃过。
5线上股票交易平台，让投资者在不支付佣金或费用的情况下交易股票、期权、基金和加密货币。 6一款多人云视频会议软件，为用户提供兼备高清视频会议与移动网络会议功能的云视频通话服务。 7企业聊天工具平台，整合了电子邮件、短信、Google Drives、Twitter等 65 种工具和服务，可以把各种碎片化的企业沟通和协作集中到一起。 8一家总部设在美国的电子签名服务商，帮助用户自动化准备、签署、执行和管理协议等书面文件。 9一家美国风险投资公司，专注于对各种公司进行从早期到成长阶段的投资。
10指在1995至2009年之间出生的一代人。 11 unalloyed纯粹的。 12 patty小馅饼。
13 kicker令人惊讶的东西。 14一款高科技健身产品，看起来像一面普通的镜子，但上面可以播放各种类别的健身课程。
In 2015， Nick Molnar was living with his parents in Sydney， Australia， and selling jewelry from a desktop computer in his childhood bedroom. Hocking everything from $250 Seiko watches to $10，000 engagement rings， the 25-year-old had gotten so good at online marketing that he had become Australia’s top seller of jewelry on eBay， shipping thousands of packages a day.
That same year， he teamed up with Anthony Eisen， a former investment banker who was 19 years his senior and lived across the street. They cofounded Afterpay， an online service that allows shoppers from the U.S.， U.K.， Australia， New Zealand and Canada to pay for small-ticket2 items like shoes and shirts in four interest-free payments over six weeks. “I was a Millennial who grew up in the 2008 crisis， and I saw this big shift away from credit to debit，” the now 30-year-old Molnar says today. Either lacking credit cards or fearful of racking up3 high-interest-rate debt on their credit cards， Molnar’s generation was quick to embrace this new way to buy and get merchandise now， while paying a little later.
Five years later， Molnar and Eisen， who each own roughly 7% of the company， have become billionaires—during a pandemic. After initially tanking at the start of lockdowns， shares of Afterpay are up nearly tenfold， thanks to a surge in business tied to e-commerce sales. In the second quarter of 2020， it handled $3.8 billion of transactions， an increase of 127% versus the same period a year earlier.
Buy now， pay later
They are not the only ones whose fortunes have taken off in the last few months. According to Forbes’ analysis， at least five fintech entrepreneurs including the two Aussies have been vaulted4 into the billionaire rankings by the pandemic. Others include Chris Britt， founder of digital bank Chime， and Vlad Tenev and Baiju Bhatt， the co-CEOs of “free” stock trading app Robinhood5. Several other founders from such companies as Klarna have also gotten boosts and are suddenly approaching billionaire status.
For a sizable crop of consumer-facing and payments-related fintechs， the virus has delivered a gust of growth， just as it has for e-commerce behemoth Amazon and work-from-home players Zoom6， Slack7 and DocuSign8.
“Consumer fintech adoption was already strong prepandemic， especially among the 20s to early-40s age group，” says Victoria Treyger， a general partner who leads fintech investing at Felicis Ventures9. “The pandemic has become a growth rocket， fueling the rapid acceleration of adoption across all age groups， including 40- to 60-year-olds.” Several Covid-driven developments are helping specific types of fintech players. For example， consumers’ shift to more online spending and delivery services is a boon to certain companies powering payments. The $2 trillion-plus CARES Act Congress passed in March， with its $1，200-per-adult stimulus checks， student loan payment holiday and （now expired） $600-a-week unemployment supplements， helped many Americans keep financially above water—and some digital banks like Chime to prosper.
Debit it！
In the second quarter of 2020， amid Covid lockdowns and fears， consumers slashed spending on travel， restaurants and luxury items they usually put on their credit cards， but continued to spend on necessities and smaller items—the sort of things they’re more likely to pay for with debit cards. And debit cards （rather than checks or credit cards） are the spending vehicle most frequently offered by fintech neobanks like SoFi， Dave and MoneyLion.
San Francisco-based digital bank Chime， in particular， has used the stimu-lus payments to its advantage. In mid-April， about a week before the $1，200 government-stimulus checks started hitting Americans’ accounts， the company advanced customers that money， eventually extending over $1.5 billion. “Following the stimulus advance， we had the largest day for new enrollments in the history of the company，” CEO Britt reports.
Today， Chime’s annualized revenue is running at a $600 million rate. Then there’s the Robinhood phenomenon. The boredom of being stuck at home， wild stock market swings and government stimulus checks have turned some Millennials and Generation-Zers10 into day traders and options players. Robinhood’s fundraising round in September gave it an $11.7 billion valuation and its cofounders a paper net worth of $1 billion each.
If there’s one fintech segment that has been an unalloyed11 pandemic winner， it’s the business Afterpay is in： online point-of-sale installment financing. It’s benefiting from both consumers’ shift to online buying and their reluctance， in these uncertain economic times， to take on new credit card debt.
Two of the three co-founders of Klarna， the Swedish payments group， Sebastian Siemiatkowski and Niklas Adalberth， met while flipping patties12 at a Burger King in Sweden. They pioneered the buy-now， pay-later model in fintech， calling it “try before you buy” and letting people own products for 30 days before making their first payment. The pandemic has catapulted Klarna’s business onto a steep trajectory. By the end of 2020’s first half， its U.S. customer base hit 9 million， up 550% from the same period the year before. Globally， 55，000 consumers are downloading the Klarna app every day. When it raised a new round of funding in September， its valuation nearly doubled from a year ago， hitting $10.7 billion.
Another fintech winner in the installment-payment business is Silicon Valley-based Affirm， the creation of serial entrepreneur Max Levchin， a founder of PayPal. It has enjoyed a special Covid kicker13 from pricey home fitness gear. Since 2015， it has powered financing for Peloton， whose sales have surged as affluent young consumers， missing the motivation of group exercise classes， have flocked to buy the $2，000-plus stationary bikes with their streaming workout classes. Affirm also now finances purchases of Mirror14， the hot $1，495 in-home fitness coaching device.
Of course， the fintech companies’ current lofty valuations depend on consumer spending staying strong and consumers retaining some of the online shopping habits they’ve developed over the past year. With the future course of Covid-19 unknown， there are no guarantees. But for now， these fintechs are riding high. ■
2015年，尼克·莫爾纳和父母一起住在澳大利亚悉尼。他在儿时的卧室里，用台式电脑销售珠宝首饰，从250美元的精工手表到1万美元的订婚戒指，各种饰品应有尽有。当年25岁的莫尔纳非常擅长网络营销，他那时已经成为易贝网上澳大利亚最大的珠宝卖家，一天能发出几千个包裹。
同年，莫尔纳开始与前投资银行家安东尼·艾森合作。艾森比他年长19岁，住在街对面。他们共同创建了Afterpay支付平台。通过这种在线服务，美国、英国、澳大利亚、新西兰和加拿大的消费者可以享受六周内零利息分四期付款，购买鞋子、衬衫等小额商品。现年30岁的莫尔纳说：“我是在2008年金融危机中成长起来的千禧一代，目睹了从信贷到借贷的巨大转变。”莫尔纳这一代人要么没有信用卡，要么担心累积起信用卡的高息欠款，他们很快就欣然接受了这种先买后付的新型支付方式。
五年后，各自拥有公司约7%股份的莫尔纳和艾森，疫情期间成了亿万富豪。疫情防控初期，Afterpay的股价大幅下跌。之后，由于电子商务销售量剧增，公司股价猛涨至近10倍。2020年第二季度，Afterpay处理了38亿美元的交易，比上年同期增长127%。
先买后付
在过去的几个月里，不仅仅是莫尔纳和艾森实现了财富飙升。据《福布斯》报告，包括这两个澳大利亚人在内，至少有五位金融科技企业家因疫情而财富激增，荣登亿万富豪排行榜。另外三位是数字银行Chime的创始人克里斯·布里特，以及“免费”股票交易应用程序Robinhood联合首席执行官弗拉德·特涅夫和拜珠·巴特。Klarna等几家公司的创始人也身家大涨，陡近亿万。
对于一大批面向消费者的支付类金融科技公司而言，新冠疫情带来了强势发展机遇，正如电子商务巨头亚马逊与提供居家办公软件服务的公司Zoom、Slack和DocuSign因疫情而得到迅猛发展一样。
“在新冠疫情暴发之前，消费者对金融科技的接受度就已经很高，尤其是20多岁至40岁出头的人群。”法利思创投负责金融科技投资的普通合伙人维多利亚·特雷格表示，“疫情就像催化剂，让所有年龄段的用户更快接受了金融科技，其中包括40至60岁的人群。”
新冠疫情带来的某些影响，正在助推特定类型的金融科技公司发展。例如，消费者更加青睐于线上消费和快递服务，这对某些支付公司而言是利好消息。2020年3月，美国国会通过了拨款总额超过2万亿美元的《冠状病毒援助、救济和经济安全法》，为每个符合条件的成年人提供1200美元的刺激补助金，允许学生暂停偿还助学贷款，还有向失业人员发放每周600美元的补贴（现已到期）。这帮助许多美国人维持基本生活——也促进了Chime等数字银行企业蓬勃发展。 借贷
2020年第二季度，疫情防控形势严峻，人们恐慌不安，大大削减了外出旅游、餐馆就餐和购买奢侈品的支出，这些消费通常用信用卡支付。但是，他们仍会购买生活必需品和小件商品，这些东西则更可能用借记卡支付。借记卡（而非支票或信用卡）是SoFi、Dave和MoneyLion等金融科技新生代银行最常提供的消费工具。
总部位于旧金山的数字银行Chime就利用政府的经济刺激计划为自己赢得了商机。2020年4月中旬，在美国人收到1200美元政府经济刺激补助前一周左右，Chime向客户预付了这笔钱，最终发放金额超过15亿美元。首席执行官布里特称：“提前支付补助金后，我们迎来了公司历史上新增注册人数最多的一天。”
如今，Chime的年化营收已达6亿美元。疫情催生了Robinhood 现象。居家的百无聊赖、股市的剧烈波动、政府的经济刺激补助，诸多条件促使千禧一代和Z世代中的一些人玩起了日内交易的期权。在2020年9月的一轮融资中，Robinhood估值达到117亿美元，两位联合创始人的账面净资产各达到10亿美元。
如果说在疫情期间，金融科技市场有真正的赢家，那就是Afterpay所从事的业务：线上销售点分期付款。这主要得益于两个方面：一方面是消费者转向网上购物，另一方面是由于经济形势不确定，他们不愿意承担新的信用卡债务。
瑞典支付集团Klarna有三位联合创始人，塞巴斯蒂安·谢米亚特科夫斯基和尼克拉斯·阿达尔贝特是其中两位，他们是在瑞典一家汉堡王店做肉饼时认识的。两人首创了金融科技领域“现在购买、以后付款”的模式，称为“先试后买”。按照这种模式，人们可以在拥有商品30天后才开始付第一笔钱。
新冠疫情使Klarna的业务量骤增。截至2020年上半年，Klarna的美国客户量达到900万，比上年同期增长550%。在全球范围内，每天有5.5万名消费者下载Klarna应用程序。9月份，Klarna完成新一轮融资，其估值达到107亿美元，较前一年几乎翻了一番。
总部位于硅谷的金融科技企业Affirm也是分期付款业务的一大赢家。该企业由连续创业者马克斯·列夫琴创立，他也是贝宝的创始人之一。高价居家健身器材给Affirm带来了特殊的“疫情红利”。自2015年以来，Affirm一直为Peloton提供融資服务。有钱的年轻消费者怀念起热火朝天的集体健身课，纷纷花2000多美元购买带有流媒体健身课程的动感单车。由此，Peloton销售额大幅飙升。Affirm现在还为购买Mirror智能健身镜的人提供融资服务，Mirror是一款热门的家用健身教练设备，售价1495美元。
当然，金融科技公司目前的高估值依赖于消费者支出保持强劲势头，还要指望消费者保留过去一年形成的一些网购习惯。由于疫情的未来走向尚未可知，上述两个方面都无法保证。但就目前而言，这些金融科技公司发展势头正猛。 □
（译者为“《英语世界》杯”翻译大赛获奖者）
1 boon非常有用的东西;益处。 2 ticket（货物上标明价目、尺码等的）标签，签条。
3 rack sth up累积。 4 vault（用手支撑或撑杆）跳跃，跃过。
5线上股票交易平台，让投资者在不支付佣金或费用的情况下交易股票、期权、基金和加密货币。 6一款多人云视频会议软件，为用户提供兼备高清视频会议与移动网络会议功能的云视频通话服务。 7企业聊天工具平台，整合了电子邮件、短信、Google Drives、Twitter等 65 种工具和服务，可以把各种碎片化的企业沟通和协作集中到一起。 8一家总部设在美国的电子签名服务商，帮助用户自动化准备、签署、执行和管理协议等书面文件。 9一家美国风险投资公司，专注于对各种公司进行从早期到成长阶段的投资。
10指在1995至2009年之间出生的一代人。 11 unalloyed纯粹的。 12 patty小馅饼。
13 kicker令人惊讶的东西。 14一款高科技健身产品，看起来像一面普通的镜子，但上面可以播放各种类别的健身课程。