How to Invest in Checkout.com Pre-IPO

Checkout.com has the typical start-up story. Its founder, Swiss-born Guillaume Pousaz, wanted to create a better customer experience. That led him to found Checkout.com in 2012 to build a better payment solutions provider.

Pousaz and his team have certainly accomplished that goal. Checkout.com uses proprietary technology to handle every aspect of the payment process, including processing different currencies (fiat and crypto). The company's seamless solutions are winning over a growing number of customers.

At one point, Checkout.com was one of the most valuable start-ups in the world at $40 billion. Even though its valuation has come back down to earth -- along with those of others in the startup world over the past couple of years -- that hasn't diminished investor interest in the financial technology company. Many investors can't wait for the opportunity to buy shares. Although most investors will need to wait until Checkout.com completes an initial public offering (IPO) before they can buy shares, there are many alternative options in the financial technology industry worth considering.

Is it publicly traded?

Is Checkout.com publicly traded?

Checkout.com is not a publicly traded company. It's a private company owned by its founder, Pousaz, and several institutional investors, including Franklin Templeton, Qatar Investment Authority, Tiger Global Management, and GIC.

When will it IPO?

When will Checkout.com IPO?

Checkout.com didn't have an IPO on the calendar as of early 2024. The financial technology company doesn't seem to be in any hurry to go public. Pousaz noted in 2022 that the company had raised a lot of money from institutional investors. Because Checkout.com has funding, he said, "I don't have any pressure to go public." Another factor that could keep Checkout.com private for a while is the continued freeze in the IPO markets and lower valuations for start-ups due to higher interest rates. If the IPO market starts to thaw and startup valuations improve, it could spur Checkout.com to consider going public.

How to invest

How to buy Checkout.com stock

Most investors can't buy Checkout.com stock yet because it's not a publicly traded company. However, some online secondary platforms like Forge Global (NASDAQ:FRGE), UpMarket, and EquityZen offer accredited investors (i.e., high-net-worth individuals or those with a high income) a chance to buy shares of pre-IPO companies like Checkout.com. Accredited investors who are really interested in buying pre-IPO shares should check out those platforms to see if they have shares of Checkout.com available to buy.

Unfortunately, non-accredited investors will need to wait until Checkout.com completes its IPO before they can buy shares. In the meantime, they can consider investing in publicly traded financial technology companies that capitalize on the same growth opportunities as Checkout.com. Three fintech stock alternatives worth checking out are:

1. PayPal

PayPal (PYPL 2.9%) is a leading payment processing company. It processes 24 billion payment transactions and $1.5 trillion in total payment volume each year. PayPal offers a variety of financial technology products and services, including checkout, buy-now-pay-later (BNPL), peer-to-peer transactions (Venmo and PayPal), and crypto. The payments giant launched six innovations in 2024 to revolutionize commerce, including a completely new PayPal checkout experience that speeds up the process for consumers while helping merchants convert more transactions.

2. Shopify

Shopify (SHOP 1.11%) provides critical internet infrastructure for commerce. The company's products and services include hardware like point of sales (POS) terminals, software like Shopify Checkout, and financial services like BNPL. Shopify optimized its Shopify Checkout product in 2023 for conversion and speed to improve its competitive position against rivals like Checkout.com.

3. Block

Block (SQ 2.32%), formerly Square, is a leading global financial technology company. It provides customers with several building blocks to help them grow their businesses, including Square and Cash App. It also provides BNPL services through those financial technology apps. Square sells POS hardware and software to enhance the checkout experience. Meanwhile, Block's Spiral platform is working to advance the uses of Bitcoin.

Investors can buy shares of one of these Checkout.com alternatives in any brokerage account. Here's a step-by-step guide on how to invest in stocks like Checkout.com.

Step 1: Open a brokerage account

You'll have to open and fund a brokerage account before buying shares of any company. If you still need to open one, here are some of the best-rated brokers and trading platforms. Take your time to research the brokers to find the best one for you.

Step 2: Figure out your budget

Before making your first trade, you'll need to determine a budget for how much money you want to invest. You'll then want to decide how to allocate that money. The Motley Fool's investing philosophy recommends building a diversified portfolio of 25 or more stocks you plan to hold for at least five years.

You don't have to get there on the first day. For example, if you have $1,000 available to start investing, you might want to begin by allocating that money equally across at least 10 stocks and then increase your holdings from there.

Step 3: Do your research

It's essential to thoroughly research a company before buying its shares. You should learn about how it makes money, its competitors, its balance sheet, and other factors to make sure you have a solid grasp on whether the company can grow value for its shareholders over the long term.

Step 4: Place an order

Once you've opened and funded a brokerage account, set your investing budget, and researched the stock, it's time to buy shares. The process is relatively straightforward. Go to your brokerage account's order page and fill out all the relevant information, including:

• The number of shares you want to buy or the amount you want to invest to purchase fractional shares.
• The stock ticker (SQ for Block, PYPL for PayPal, or SHOP for Shopify).
• Whether you want to place a limit order or a market order. The Motley Fool recommends using a market order since it guarantees you buy shares immediately at market price.

Once you complete the order page, click to submit your trade and become a shareholder of one of these Checkout.com alternatives while you await its IPO. Investors would follow a similar blueprint to buy an IPO stock like Checkout.com when it goes public. Once shares become available, select Checkout.com's chosen stock ticker to buy shares through your brokerage account.

Profitability

Is Checkout.com profitable?

Private companies like Checkout.com don't have to disclose their financial results publicly, so there isn't much available information about the company's profitability.

However, Pousaz has said that the company is profitable and has been for years. Its profitability has reportedly made it easier for Checkout.com to raise money from investors since it didn't need the cash to fund its operations. Instead, the capital it raised helped accelerate its growth, which made investors more eager to participate in its funding rounds.

While Checkout.com was profitable in the past, that doesn't mean it's profitable today. One fact that drove its past profitability was revenue from crypto-related companies, which were booming a few years ago. That's no longer the case, so investors interested in Checkout.com should ensure that it's profitable and on track to grow its profits in the future before buying shares.

Should I invest?

Should I invest in Checkout.com?

Most investors can't yet invest in Checkout.com since it hasn't completed an IPO, so they have lots of time to research the company and follow the trends driving its growth.

One thing worth pointing out is that while financial technology trends have been big growth drivers over the years, they haven't always driven strong returns for investors in fintech stocks. For example, shares of leading payments companies Shopify, PayPal, and Block have all lost significant value over the last three years. Meanwhile, only Shopify has made money for its investors over the last five years. And while all three have made money for investors since Shopify's IPO in 2015, the gains have varied significantly, with Shopify producing spectacular returns while PayPal reported underwhelming results.

ETFs

ETFs with exposure to Checkout.com

The varied performance of payment stocks over the years is why many people prefer to be passive investors rather than trying to pick stocks and actively manage their portfolios. Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are an easy way to be a passive investor in the broader market or specific themes like financial technology.

While you can't use ETFs to gain exposure to Checkout.com since it's not yet a publicly traded company, you can use them to invest in fintech stocks. A couple of noteworthy ETFs focused on financial technology and innovation are:

• Ark Fintech Innovation ETF (ARKF 1.97%): Well-known ETF manager Cathie Wood actively manages this fintech-focused fund. The ETF typically holds between 35 and 55 stocks. The actively managed fund charges a reasonable 0.75% ETF expense ratio. Shopify and Block were two of the fund's top three holdings in early 2024.
• Global X FinTech ETF (NYSEMKT:FINX): This thematic ETF focuses on companies at the leading edge of the fintech sector. It held shares of 60 companies in early 2024, including Block (sixth-largest) and PayPal (seventh-largest). The ETF charges a 0.68% total expense ratio.

Related investing topics

The bottom line on Checkout.com

Checkout.com is on a mission to help businesses thrive in the digital economy by developing leading payment technology, which made it one of the more richly valued startups a few years ago. Although most investors can't buy shares of the privately held financial technology company yet, they have many other ways to invest in innovators in the payments sector while waiting for Checkout.com to finally go public.

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