Sezzle Attains B Corp Certification Status
Now strengthened with B Corp certification, Sezzle plans to continue “flipping the payments industry on its head,” by placing purpose alongside profit.
Sezzle joins purpose-driven brands including Patagonia, Allbirds and Athleta in its certification, meeting the “highest verified standards of social and environmental performance, transparency and accountability to people and the planet.” Notably, Sezzle’s mission-driven payments platform has its greatest presence in North America, with growing segments in Asia and Europe.
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“Becoming a certified B Corp empowers our entire team, but it is only the beginning. This designation ensures that we hold Sezzle to the highest of standards,” said Charlie Youakim, chief executive officer of Sezzle. “Sezzle’s key differentiator among the competition is our purpose-driven approach to business. With this designation, we will strengthen this advancement through the collective power of the B Corp community.”
Setting itself apart from other payment solutions in the market, Sezzle’s mission is to advance important environmental, social and economic causes and to financially empower the next generation. The company actively works to “go beyond finance” by supporting empowerment across multiple segments of its users’ lives and works toward creating a better world through ethical initiatives.
In a statement, Sezzle said, “employees lean into significant societal and cultural shifts, ensuring internal and external focus on positive community impacts that benefit all stakeholders and shareholders.” Moreover, according to the company, people want to work for, buy from and invest in companies they believe in.
According to the company, Sezzle users are next-generation consumers who take care to be responsible in all parts of life from how they spend to where they spend.
“We characterize our users as next-generation consumers,” Veronica Katz, chief revenue officer of Sezzle. “This does not refer only to age, although 75 percent of Sezzle users are Gen Z or Millennials who are digital mobile-first shoppers. Many Sezzle customers have tended to shy away from traditional forms of lending such as high-interest-rate credit cards. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 66 percent of Millennials and 79 percent of Gen Z have ‘subprime’ credit or no credit at all.”
Through Sezzle U, the company teaches users to be financially responsible — one of its core missions in empowering the next-generation consumers — while helping them build financial responsibility and credit with real-time purchases.
“Sezzle users are searching for a way to extend payment for purchases without the fear of financially overextending, and while learning how to budget,” said Katz. “These are shoppers that just need someone to take a chance on them — when the traditional credit institution will not. Sezzle is that perfect solution. For Sezzle users who have subprime credit and a thin credit file, largely because many are credit skeptics, who have avoided credit cards and traditional credit products, Sezzle is a financial copilot that helps users on the path to good credit while providing continuous education and support aimed at helping them boost their credit scores.”
Sezzle proposed a full list of B Corp initiatives for 2021 on a local and global scale including commitments to plant a tree for every new, active user, a promise to be carbon neutral, a full annual scholarship to the University of Minnesota to a disadvantaged student, providing free financial literacy tools via Sezzle U and creating a nonprofit fund to support causes as they arise.
These program-collaborating initiatives with brands, partners and retailers align in pursuing social good, coinciding with the company’s overarching value-based marketing strategy and dedication to its partners.
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