Zip Co Limited (ZIP) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Welcome to the Annual General Meeting for Zip Co Limited. My name is Diane Smith-Gander, and I'm the Chair of the company and of today's meeting. It is now 10:00 a.m., and as there is a quorum present, I declare the meeting open and confirm that the AGM has been properly constituted. Because of the ongoing travel restrictions, I'm joining you today from Perth. I'd like to begin by acknowledging the traditional custodians of this land, the Whadjuk Noongar people. I acknowledge and respect their continuing culture and the contribution they make to the life of this city and region. I pay my respects to their elders, past, present and emerging. Many of you are joining this meeting virtually from other parts of the country, and I also pay my respects to the traditional owners of the lands on which you are participating from. Unfortunately, given current restrictions and social distancing measures in place, we are unable to meet with you in person today. But I would like to thank shareholders, proxies and guests for joining us via the virtual meeting platform Lumi. All attendees can watch a live webcast of the meeting. In addition, shareholders and proxies have the ability to ask questions and submit votes. In opening the meeting, I would like to introduce my fellow Board members and the management team of Zip Co Limited, who are attending via the virtual platform, including Mr. Larry Diamond, Managing Director and CEO; our Executive Director and Group Chief Operating Officer, Peter Gray; Mr. John Batistich, an independent Nonexecutive Director; Ms. Pippa Downes, Independent Nonexecutive Director; and our Chief Financial Officer, Mr. Martin Brooke. Also in attendance are our company's secretaries, Mr. Tai Phan and Mr. David Franks and also Mr. Christopher Dedrick who is a representative from Computershare Investor Services. Mark Lumsden from Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu will also be available to answer any questions on the audit, Zip's accounting policies, his auditors report and the question of independents. There are no apologies that have been received for this meeting. The agenda for today's meeting is as follows: I will provide the Chair's address. I will then hand over to Larry, who will provide the Managing Director and CEO's address. We'll then go through the formal items of business included within the Notice of Meeting, including conducting a poll on all resolutions. Following the formal part of today's AGM, we will close the meeting. And finally, the results of the poll will be released to the ASX following the close of the meeting once they've been determined. I note that only registered shareholders will be able to enter questions into the online question portal. Our company Secretary, Tai Phan, will now run us through the question process.

[Operator Instructions] Voting today will be conducted by way of poll on all business items. In order to provide you with enough time to vote, I will open voting for all resolutions shortly. At that time, if you are eligible to vote at this meeting, a new voting tab will appear. Selecting this tab will bring up a list of resolutions and present you with voting options. To cast your vote, simply select one of the options. There is no need to hit or submit or enter button as the vote is automatically recorded. We do, however, have the ability to change your vote up until the time I declare voting closes. I now declare voting open on all items of business. The voting tab will soon appear. Please submit your votes at any time. I'll give you a warning before I move to close the voting. Diane will now provide the Chair's address.

Thank you, Tai. FY '21 has been a year of remarkable growth for Zip. We began the year with 2.1 million customers, a presence in 5 international markets and a team of just under 400 employees who are appropriately named Zipsters. As I speak to you today, Zip has a presence in 13 international markets, supporting more than 55,000 merchants, 8 million customers and over 1,000 Zipsters work in the company around the world. Zip is now one of the few truly global buy-now-pay-later providers. This growth has been made possible by the continued support of our shareholders and by the hard work of our Zipsters. I want to begin today by providing some context to the operating environment of FY '21 and the opportunity that is presented to us as we move into financial year '22. While your company's global footprint has increased dramatically, Zip's penetration of the potential addressable market for our business remains nascent. Significant opportunity exists in both established and emerging markets for buy-now-pay-later products. Buy-now-pay-later currently accounts for just over 2.1% of global e-commerce spend, but is expected to be the fastest-growing e-commerce payment method over the next 5 years. As we continue to work towards aligning our markets under a single unified brand, Zip is well positioned to capture a share of the addressable retail market, which is worth USD 22 trillion. Zip's growth this year has taken place against the backdrop of the global COVID-19 pandemic, which has affected every one of our markets, customers, merchants and Zipsters. I'm encouraged that Zip has been able to play a role in supporting all of those groups as people around the world continue to grapple with the impact of COVID-19. Zips' products have provided consumers and small and medium-sized enterprises with much-needed options to manage their budgets and cash flow during a period of significant volatility. In particular, Zip's unique ability to offer short and long-term lending across both open and integrated networks, gives our customers the flexibility to manage payments of all types from daily necessities to larger purchases or even small business expenses. Zip has always been committed to responsible lending. And we have sophisticated risk and credit approval processes to ensure that we don't lend to customers who are unable to pay back the borrowing. However, we recognize that the pandemic could affect even the most responsible borrowers. So in response, we put in place several measures to help customers who were experiencing both financial hardship or issues such as domestic violence, which were exacerbated during the lockdowns in a number of our global markets. Despite the upheaval of the last 18 months, we have helped our merchant partners to grow and continue to deepen our relationships with them as a key partner to their businesses. While the world is reopening, the long-term impact of the pandemic on travel, hospitality, entertainment and retail markets is yet to be fully realized. Zip will continue to play a role in supporting customers, small businesses and merchants alike as they work through the ongoing consequences at this challenging time. When Zip first started trading 8 years ago, there were many who questioned sustainability of the buy-now-pay-later model. Over the last year, we've seen established technology and financial services companies creating their own buy-now-pay-later offerings or entering the space through acquisition. We see these moves as a validation of the model, which Zip helped to pioneer back in 2013. Zip's experience has been the new entrants into the buy-now-pay-later space have raised awareness to the sector, bringing new merchants and consumers into the market who were previously not engaged with these products. Competition also increases innovation, and that's good for merchants and good for customers. As I outlined earlier, there's significant growth opportunity for the buy-now-pay-later sector, which allows new providers to expand the market rather than to compete for the existing customer base. Of course, Zip is still keenly focused on remaining competitive and providing clear value to our merchants and customers. Zip's people-centered culture of innovation is a key point of differentiation for our business. Our teams are working at Zip-speed to create the next wave of products that will allow us to deepen our engagement with customers, support them in taking control of their finances and grow Zip share of the digital wallet. In the context of a challenging global operating environment, your Board is proud of Zip's achievements over the past 12 months. In August this year, Zip launched a new brand identity, unifying global operations under a single fearless brand, ensuring that no matter the market, Zip is instantly recognizable in busy checkout environments, both in-store and offline. Last month, Zip launched a heavyweight brand campaign across the U.S. to support greater awareness of the brand with both merchants and customers. Your company leveraged its global technology platform to enter 3 new markets organically, Mexico, Canada and the U.K. In each of those markets, a small local market footprint has been built from which to scale using our global resources to support growth. Our new segment, small and medium-sized enterprises is now served by a buy-now-pay-later product to meet the needs of these business owners. That product is now gaining traction in Australia, providing much-needed cash flow support during the lockdowns of the past year. This is an area of continued focus for financial year '22, demonstrating the value of interest-free credit beyond the consumer retail sector with which buy-now-pay-later is typically associated. In our more mature markets of Australia, New Zealand and the United States, Zip continues to grow, driven by product innovations that deepen engagement with customers. This fuels high levels of customer and merchant satisfaction that demonstrates the value Zip provides, leading to significant organic growth through word-of-mouth referrals. We have continued to invest for growth. We see significant opportunity in emerging buy-now-pay-later markets, particularly those which have high levels of mobile phone penetration but low engagement with traditional financial services institutions or products. In these markets, we have developed a proven pathway from investment to acquisition, allowing us to enter a market and work closely with the leadership of an established buy-now-pay-later provider to better understand the market opportunity. Where we see opportunity for long-term sustained growth and importantly, alignment of culture, people and values, we can move swiftly to acquisition. We followed this model with Spotii in the Middle East, the acquisition of which was completed recently and with Twisto in Eastern Europe, which is the subject of a resolution before you today. By the end of this year, we also hope to complete the acquisition of Payflex in South Africa. Most recently, we announced strategic investments in TendoPay in the Philippines and ZestMoney in India. These 2 markets provide enormous local potential and a strong foothold for expansion in Asia. At present, Zip is focused on investing to grow the business. It's clear to us that there is a significant benefit to be gained from establishing a first-mover advantage in emerging markets. Your company is also building scale in its existing markets with a particular focus on the U.S., where significant potential exists to increase our customer and merchant base. Both these activities will provide the foundation for long-term sustainable growth. Given those priorities, any profit generated in the near term will be invested back into the business rather than paying a dividend to shareholders. This approach will generate the greatest value for shareholders over the long term. As Zip grows, we must also navigate a path, which allows the business to mature without jeopardizing the culture and entrepreneurial spirit that led to its success and the success of businesses like QuadPay, Spotii, Twisto and others who are joining the Zip family. As a Board, we have devoted time over the last 12 months to establishing robust governance frameworks to guide the business as it grows in scale and global reach without hindering innovation and speed. This is particularly important when we consider our geographic expansion. Zip's approach, which is facilitated by its dedicated new markets team is aimed at finding organizations with a strong alignment of people, products, values and technology, in markets where we believe the economic regulatory and customer environment provides opportunity for growth and value to our global merchant partners. Before entering any new market, a meaningful due diligence process is conducted along with the deep assessment of the market and its regulatory environment, progressing opportunities through a rigorous and disciplined set of stage gates. This considered approach has led to our coalition of founders model providing Zip with dedicated and passionate leaders in each market. It is this collective expertise and entrepreneurial spirit that drives innovation and agility throughout our global business. Zip has work to build relationships with regulators and where appropriate, policymakers in its key markets. We do this both directly and through trade associations. As buy-now-pay-later usage increases, there is a need to ensure that fit-for-purpose regulation is developed, which ensures all providers are operating to the same high standards and that consumers have appropriate protections in place. Responsible lending has always been central to Zip's approach, and we consider your company well placed to inform the development of regulatory frameworks in our core markets. Zip also knows that businesses with greater diversity achieve better long-term outcomes. So we have implemented a global strategy for diversity, equity and inclusion and established DEI communities across our international business. In recognition of the pandemic impact, management has worked hard to ensure Zipsters can work flexibly and has provided support for the physical and mental well-being of both our people and their families. The Board has been very pleased with the proactive approach taken by management. Decreased global mobility from the pandemic has also made a big increase in competition for skilled people in many markets. Zip's commitment to driving a people-first culture is key to the recruitment and retention of the talent that fuels innovation throughout our business. Your Board is well engaged in talent review and succession planning for key roles. This year, we launched our social impact strategy, Zip It Forward, recognizing Zip can support social wellbeing, financial empowerment and good corporate citizenship in all our markets. As the United Nations 2021 Climate Change Conference COP26 has just taken place, it's timely to focus on the environment, a crucial part of Zip's social impact strategy. In FY '21, Zip committed to carbon neutrality through measuring, reducing and offsetting our global emissions. I'm pleased to say we have achieved climate neutral certification in all our markets. And the Zip team continues to use the information gained from this work to inform future efforts to reduce our carbon footprint. Financial year 2021 was the year Zip transformed into a truly global business achieving the goals it set at the start of the year and delivering record results across the board. That momentum continues into financial year '22 with strong results from our first quarter and significant global partnerships which stand us in good stead to continue our trajectory of growth and become the first payment choice everywhere and every day. I joined the Board as Chair in February this year, and I would like to thank my predecessor, Philip Crutchfield, for the steady leadership he provided to Zip over its crucial early years. As the business continues to grow, we want to be sure the Board has the right mix of skills and experience to provide sound counsel, guidance and oversight. It is Zip's intention to expand the Board for greater independence, including more representation in the company's growth markets. I thank you for your ongoing support of our business, and I trust you see the great potential in Zip's future. I will now hand over to Larry to provide his Managing Director and CEO's update.

Thank you, Diane, and good morning, good afternoon, and good evening to all our shareholders wherever you might be. First up, I would like to thank you all for your investment in Zip and your continued support of the company. It has been another transformative 12 months for Zip against the backdrop of COVID-19 second wave. Today, I'm going to take you through my presentation for the 2021 Annual General Meeting, which will cover the following 3 areas: firstly, we'll give a general company update. Secondly, we'll go into a more market-specific update. And then third, finally, we'll talk about Zip's priorities for FY '22. Before we get started, I want to remind investors of the 3 maxims that underscore who is Zip and what we do. You should be familiar with these, but it's always good to focus on them. Our mission, to be the first payment choice everywhere and every day, which can only be achieved when we take an active role in improving the lives of the people we serve. Our purpose, to create a world where people can live fearlessly today, knowing they're in control of tomorrow. And as a leader in the BNPL category, we recognize the importance of not simply giving people access to money, but rather giving people the ability to take control over their financial future. And our promise which is a more financially fearless world. And it's our promise that motivates every single Zipster around the world, a unified drive to make the world more financially fearless. And when you give people the knowledge, access and ability to control their financial lives, you give people the opportunity to live every day with confidence, a long and exciting road ahead. Our message to investors has been consistent. Having spent the first 6 years developing and bedding down the Zip model in Australia, we have then rapidly expanded internationally. And so now, Zip is a global growth story. And over the past 12 months, we have become a truly leading and global BNPL player, which, as you can see here, operations in 13 markets and a rapidly expanding footprint, and we are seeing strong growth out of our expansion markets, which we'll cover today. As you can see, our overall metrics show the health of the company at the end of Q1 FY '22. With $7.6 billion in annualized TTV, $530 million in annualized revenue. Pleasingly, transaction growth was 177% quarter-on-quarter. There are now 1,000 Zipsters globally, with 8 million customers and 55,000 merchants. So our growth over the past 12 months has been driven by a mix of greenfield organic expansion as well as teaming up with founder-led BNPL fintechs. Our focus has been predominantly in the established markets such as Australia and the U.S., together with smaller investments in emerging geographies, which, as Diane mentioned, have high levels of mobile penetration, large addressable markets and enormous commercial potential. As you can see, we have observed strong growth across all our key operating metrics over the last year and indeed the last quarter in TTV, transactions, customers, merchants and revenue, all up over 100% year-over-year. And just in the last quarter, ending September, we saw further growth with annualized TTV of $7.6 billion compared to $5.8 billion for the full financial year, which is a 30% increase as well as our annualized revenue of $530 million for the quarter, again, up about 30% on the full year result. And finally, on our financial scorecard. We have seen over the past year maintenance of strong margins while also improving our business' capital efficiency. And in particular, Zip's cash transaction margins remained strong year-over-year. What we have seen is a shift to the U.S. in our business mix and the adoption of everyday fueling a slight reduction in that cash transaction margin. Likewise, our higher returning customers plus investments in our decisioning capability has resulted in improved loss rates for FY '21. And then finally, as you can see on the chart, capital efficiency has really improved as the loan book durations have shortened and this is principally being led by the Pay in 4 in the U.S. Shareholders, you would have seen this slide from our full year results. And you'll remember at the outset of FY '21, we identified 4 strategic pillars for the 12 months ahead, and I believe that we have delivered on these. The first payment acceptance. We launched our innovating Tap & Zip technology, which allows customers across Australia and the U.S. to shop anywhere Visa is accepted. We also signed deals with Stripe, Adyen and BigCommerce and welcomed over 26,000 merchant partners to the Zip network. The second pillar was all about app engagement. We saw our customer base grow by over 5 million to 8 million currently. And while we launched new products such as deals, rewards and subscriptions, and a lot of work is underway now to integrate personal financial management, PFM, credit building and personalization into the app to further drive app engagement in the year ahead. The third pillar was all around global expansion. We ran hard on the world stage, and I can't believe that only a year ago, we really announced the QuadPay U.S. transaction. We've launched in the U.K., plus we've expanded into a further 12 markets through a mixture of acquisition and partnership. And finally, our fourth pillar was around Zip Business, where we launched buy-now-pay-later for small- and medium-sized businesses and struck some really great deals with brands, great technology brands such as Facebook and eBay. So Zip is delivering on its priorities, and we believe winning the contest because it is actually a very, very big market, which obviously helps. And we are winning due to a set of 5 competitive advantages. And as a refresher, I'll just step through each of these. Firstly, our products. It's all about not just short but also long duration installments in a single checkout experience. Some products need more time to pay off. And so when you Zip a transaction, we want you to think of splitting that transaction over the appropriate payback period. The second is around our flexible solutions, the hybrid, open, but also integrated payments network, which helps to accelerate our flywheel and drive customers into an anywhere proposition, including in-store and our Tap & Pay. The third is around the business model. Our unique revenue model derives income not just for merchants but also customers and that those customers fees are fair, transparent and easy to understand. This enables us to attract the right customers as well as support partners in any vertical, while delivering market-leading unit economics. The fourth is all about risk management. We have developed a proprietary decisioning platform, which drives superior approvals and conversion for our merchant partners while delivering profitable outcomes. And over the past 8 years, when we reflect back, we have moved from what was largely a manual underwriting model digesting both conventional and nonconventional credit data to one that now uses full automation and a variety of AI, machine learning or ML models. And then finally, global reach. We are truly a global BNPL player with one of the largest geographic footprints. And why is this important? Because it means that we can serve and truly partner with merchants on a global basis. Our technology platform enables us to unlock 13 markets through a single API integration. So now we're going to delve a little bit deeper into our core markets. So firstly, the U.S. The business continues to deliver record results and healthy margins, as you can see in the charts here. First, our brand awareness. Our investors will know that in August this year, Zip unveiled a major global rebrand, which in the U.S. saw the retirement of the QuadPay name and the introduction of the Fearless Zip brand. That change has gone smoothly and is now supported by a large advertising campaign which we're running in the U.S. As a result, we've seen brand awareness among under 45s now at 14% which is an all-time high for the U.S. market. And as an aside, I recently spent 2 months in the U.S., my first trip outside of Australia since COVID commenced, and that time was actually spent getting to know our incredible Zipsters as well as meeting and listening to merchants, investors, legislators and the media and gave me a lot of confidence about the U.S. opportunity. And for those on LinkedIn, you might have seen the post in front of the massive Times Square screens that displayed our new fearless brand. And what we're feeling is it's really starting to resonate with the retailer community and should provide really strong tailwinds into FY '22. And on the numbers specifically, in the U.S., if you look at the last quarter, we saw -- we generated just under $1 billion in the TTV, up 197% year-over-year. We processed 5.3 million transactions, which was up 165%. We hit over 5 million customers, and we generated $67.1 million in revenue, again, up about 170% year-over-year. Along with these record metrics, we also secured some great merchant names. We've mentioned Microsoft previously, the Shein Group, Polaris and Mercari, just to name a few. We also reported market-leading BNPL margins with revenue as a percentage of TTV at around about 7%. And along with these achievements, we have a strong pipeline of products and merchant initiatives, which I'll share with you a little bit later in the presentation. Next Australia. As we said before, Zip is truly a global company, but with an Australian heart. And in Australia and New Zealand, as this next slide shows, we have seen strong growth underpinned by deep customer engagement. Despite the repeated waves of COVID lockdowns, our metrics have been strong and experiencing double-digit growth year-over-year. In the last quarter, we processed $917 million in TTV, up about 50% year-over-year. We processed 9.2 million transactions, which is up close to 180% year-over-year. We now have 2.9 million customers on the platform, and we generated over $64 million in revenue for the quarter, which is up about 40% year-over-year. And this growth has really been built on a few things. One, new verticals. We've secured marquee partnerships in target verticals, particularly in everyday spend and travel categories with recent wins, including Kayo, BP, Samsung, Beaurepaires and a whole long list. Customer engagement which if you look at the last year, it was all about really Tap & Zip, which has continued to drive customer engagement, came out of an extensive array of customer research studies. And now we're seeing users tapping on average of 6.4x in the month as recorded in September. And on the product side, we are continually refining and boosting the utility of our digital wallets with a range of new features such as bill switching and we're working on a range of new and exciting initiatives, such as itemized insurance and personal financial management. As you can see, based on the higher growth in transactions versus the transaction volume, we're starting to see increased utility and engagement with our products. And we also finally achieved brand awareness for under 45s of 53% this month, sorry, a very strong result in this market and the rebound coming out of lockdown. In the U.K., our businesses continued to build momentum after a launch this year. We saw strong quarter-over-quarter growth of $21 million TTV, which was up about 54% compared with Q4 and 124,000 customers, up about 80% quarter-over-quarter. And over the quarter, we saw good growth in our U.K. merchant numbers, which is up about 30%, adding names, as you can see on the screen, such as Homebase, Shein and Jollyes. On the product side, where we've launched with our U.S. QuadPay staff, we successfully launched our virtual card technology in the app, which is allowing customers to shop at a greater range of affiliate partners, and we also launched in-store using Apple Pay. And on the topic of regulation, Zip is engaging with the Treasury on the recently announced consultation to really build a proportionate regulatory framework for BNPL in the U.K. And I think Zip has had a lot of experience from our time in Australia over the last few years to really drive that discussion. So I'd now like to move on to FY '22 priorities. Fellow shareholders, we are laser focused on the following 4 key areas for FY '22, and we'll just quickly go through this. The first is all about customer engagement. We will keep pushing hard to develop new products and services for our customers, really to increase the utility of our digital wallet which should translate to higher average revenues per users and ultimately increased lifetime value. The second major area is all about delivering more value for our merchants. Here, we will create more value for our merchant network through innovative solutions and making BNPL truly global through a single integration as well as supporting their long-term growth through delivering increased awareness, increased traffic and conversion. The third major area is with our global expansion. We have grown fast and wide and now is the time to really deliver results from these geographies. This means driving growth and brand awareness in our established markets, while accelerating growth in our high-potential geographies. And finally, the fourth area of focus, creating a financially fearless world. So here, we want to play our part in delivering a financially fearless world, which means investing in initiatives that have a meaningful social impact and drive financial well-being across our user base. I will now unpack each of these a little bit more. Consumer engagement is all about innovation. That is the driver, pure and simple. The brilliant basics, which we must continue to do together with new products and services are leading to deeper engagement. Over the past year, we demonstrated Zip's ability to cross-sell with more than 20% of active Australian customers using multiple Zip products. We also piloted physical cards in the U.S. The result? Spend by card users increased 2x over the 12-month period. And while we are innovating and creating customer preference to achieve our mission of being the first payment choice everywhere and every day, we are super mindful of creating tools to assist customers to take control of their financial lives. Some of include personal financial management tools, as you can see on the screen, credit building, itemized insurance and bill switching allowing users to compare gas and electricity bills to switch and save. The next slide, investors will be very familiar with Zip talking about being a customer-first organization. And by customer, it's not just the consumer but also our merchant partners. And in fact, our very first customer was indeed the merchant, Chappelli Cycles, selling hipster bicycles around Christmas time in 2013. So for FY '22, our merchant focus will include the range of initiatives, not limited to but including the demand generation where we enable merchants to seamlessly join our affiliate network and participate in the Zip Rewards program in Australia. This is an ongoing program that has already seen a TTV uplift of 2.5x when merchants promote using Zip Rewards. Another initiative is what we're calling Remember Me. We launched a pilot in the U.S. recently on the Android platform, where we saw a 15% uplift in conversion, and we now have plans to roll that out to iOS and across Australia. And for Zip business, SMBs that can buy now and pay later, we introduced Tap & Pay for our Trade Plus customers, meeting their BNPL needs throughout the month. And what we've seen is active users are now tapping in excess of 7x per month on their phone, which is a really pleasing indicator. For merchants as well, seamless integration is the pathway to unlocking access to our 13 global markets. And our promise to merchants is integrate once and will take care of the rest. And over the past year, we have partnered with a range of global ecosystem players to really help the distribution of our payments acceptance. We announced over the year, Adyen. This global partnership provides merchants across the global Adyen network with access to BNPL solutions at checkout with the flick of the switch. It's now available in Australia, New Zealand, U.K. and U.S., and we plan to add more of our markets to that integration. The second partnership is Stripe. This relationship provides merchants access to alternative payments globally while -- and while leveraging our scale-to-slash processing costs and enhance margins. And of course, Stripe for us has been a real major partner since the beginning of our business over in the U.S. And finally, Sabre. Zip now offers a global distribution system, which integrates into Sabre. And that's being used by travel agents, hotels and car rental companies, and it's going to be a big focus for us as we see the recovery post-COVID. Global expansion is Zip's third strategic priority. And to date, we have successfully launched in priority areas with plans to scale quickly. The addressable global market before Zip is a staggering $24 trillion a year. And so to attack this opportunity, our strategy, as you know, has a 3-pronged investment approach. There are core markets Australia, New Zealand, U.S. and the U.K. We have our expansion markets such as Canada and Mexico, Middle East, Southeast Asia and Eastern Europe. And we have strategic investments in people and capabilities which include our stakes in Zest in India and TendoPay in the Philippines. Zip's global presence is providing merchants much-needed global access via this single integration. And our technology platform now can accommodate for real market-based needs. For instance, it now covers English, Spanish and French. And as responsibility is part of Zip's DNA, we continue to invest in our proprietary credit fraud and risk decisioning engines to serve both the mature and also the emerging markets. Investors, there is a resolution before the meeting today talking about Zip's acquisition of the shares it does not already own in Twisto. And ahead of this process, I would like to provide you with a bit more detail on the Twisto opportunity, its performance to date and the opportunity for Zip to capitalize on the significant European market opportunity. Let me unpack a few points. Firstly, EU access. Europe is a $1.1 trillion e-commerce market, the second largest in the world and Twisto's license has the ability to be passported to all 27 member states of the EU, which is pretty handy. Next is all about product and innovation. Twisto's digital wallet covers BNPL, budgeting, rewards, and a premium offering around FX and insurance, which has proven to drive really great user engagement. What we see is active Twisto customers transact around 15x per month, spending $400 on average over the course of the month. There are also over 350,000 active users who have transacted on the Twisto platform this year. They've got 20,000 merchants, and they're now annualizing at close to $330 million in TTV. We've also got some great names. Flagship merchants on the platform include Delivery Hero, Pizza Hut, Gap, New Balance and Under Armour. Some really great names, which we can bring into our global merchant platform. And finally, culture, alignment and management, which Diane spoke to earlier. Twisto's founding team is led by a founder called Michael Smida, and he has been with the company since inception, which interestingly was founded in June of 2013, similar to another exciting fintech and he is strongly aligned with Zip's culture and vision. Michael fits nicely into our coalition of founders model and together with his team is excited to be part of Zip, leading its European growth strategy, and we hear that Twisters will become Zipsters. Completion of the Twisto acquisition is planned to take place shortly after today's AGM. Zip continues to scale for its regional points of presence, capitalizing on new opportunities in its high-growth markets. And our expansion from established geographies continues with a push into new. In North America, we organically expanded North and South and now have operations in Canada with consumers embracing the ability to shop cross-border at large U.S. merchants. We also now have a presence in Quebec with French translations, showing how our systems flex to local requirements and nuances. And finally, likewise, we are also live and processing in Mexico with a really exciting merchant pipeline developing. We recently announced, for example, Claro-Shop, one of the great marketplaces there. And we've got a great founding team who I have had the privilege to meet on my recent trip overseas. In Asia, I'm pleased today to announce that Zip is launching into Singapore via a strategic partnership with Singtel Dash, the all-in-one mobile wallet app. Zip will be available as the exclusive BNPL option to users of the Singtel Dash app. Launching our Asia business from Singapore, a country long recognized for its creativity and innovation is consistent with Zip strategy to build a truly global BNPL business and presents an opportunity for us to tap into a vibrant and accelerating market. Most importantly, it adds another geography to our global offering and supporting our global merchant partners we asked for this particular region. This announcement follows as you heard over the last couple of months, our strategic investment into India through Zest. One of the exciting BNPL players there led by founders, including Lizzie. And finally, in the EMEA region, the acquisition of Spotii provides an entry into the Middle East, which is one of the fastest-growing e-commerce regions, while Twisto provides access to Central and Eastern Europe and the adjacent markets. And finally, in South Africa, Payflex is experiencing really strong growth and expanding merchant network and its pipeline. So as we move to the next slide, as you can see, the momentum Zip has built in new markets, is -- has been growing and is expected to grow even further. We are targeting $50 million in additional TTV in December from Twisto, Spotii and Payflex, which is now annualizing -- which will be analyzing at over $500 million in additional annual TTV. Zip's final priority for FY '22 is all about creating a financially fearless world. We have long said that responsibility is part of Zip's DNA. And now as a global company, this sentiment has developed into a larger global narrative. As a global operation, we are focused on the role we need to play as a good corporate citizen and for Zip, that means starting with our people, and the financial and social well-being of our communities. And so initiatives are in 4 key areas. The first is financial empowerment, where we're building financial literacy, and entrepreneurial skills by our partnership in Australia with Young Change Agents and helping Zip consumers manage debt through the charity, Way Forward. On the leadership, we have appointed new global leaders as we lift the bar with the hiring of our new Global Chief Technology Officer, Ahu Chhapgar; and our Global General Counsel, David Tyler, both of whom have extensive experience in payments, financial services and global operations and are based in the United States. We have also refined our performance scorecard to monitor growth as well as customer and employee engagement, which are critical to success. The third is about employee well-being, where we are showing our commitment to the mental health and well-being of our Zipsters through a range of initiatives and partnerships, many of which we have announced over the last few months. And finally, on DEI, Diversity Equity Inclusion. This year, Zip has set 5-year targets for its gender balance, which we will track, measure as we work towards these goals. We're also proud to share that we have reached more than 40% female representation across our global workforce. But we have a long way to go to really hit our 5-year goals across all levels of the company. And finally, a short business update, having just finished the recent quarter, Q1, and now moving into Q2 FY '22, which is the December seasonal quarter. On growth performance, we saw October was Zip's highest TTV month on record, where we processed $778 million (sic) [ $778 million ] in transaction volume for the month which was up around 94% over last year's October. And the company is now annualizing at over $9 billion, which is a really pleasing step up. This has happened off the back of the recent rebound, the rebound from September. In October, we saw a 24% increase month-over-month, which is going to provide really outstanding momentum leading into the seasonal peak. On partners, we secured partnerships with major names, including Microsoft, PayU and Adyen and are live with global merchants in this quarter, including Shein in multiple geographies. On brand, as mentioned earlier, we successfully completed the global rebrand now in 6 markets including the U.S., where we've seen our highest-ever ratings for brand awareness. And as a BNPL player, this is a really important piece of the equation. On regulation, as flagged earlier, in the U.K., Zip will be participating in the treasury process to map out the proportionate regulatory framework for BNPL. And in the U.S., Zip has joined other leading fintechs with a new and exciting U.S. industry group called the Financial Technology Association to really make the case for BNPL. And alongside this, Zip has been engaged with multiple regulators and federal legislators to really explain our business model, our uniqueness and how we engage with U.S. customers. And finally, we're excited to announce that we're in the process of establishing a financial partnership with Utah-based WebBank to really provide Zip the flexibility to drive further innovation in product lending right across the United States. So that's the formal end of the presentation, and I want to thank you all for your support today for your investment today. And I'll now hand back to the Chair to go through the AGM's formal items of business, and I look forward to any questions afterwards. Thank you.

Thanks very much, Larry. We'll take any questions from shareholders on the Chair's address or Larry's MDC, I address at the end of the meeting. but now we will move forward to the formal business as set out in the notice Of meeting. First, I am tabling the minutes of the last Annual General Meeting held on the 30th of November 2020. and the extraordinary general meeting held on the 31st of August 2020. If any shareholders wish to review these minutes, they are available for inspection via our company's secretaries, either Mr. Tai Phan or Mr. David Franks. We will now move to the formal business as set out in the Notice of Meeting. The Notice of General Meeting was provided to all registered members on the 5th of October 2021 and is to be taken as read. Voting on all resolutions will be conducted by poll. Proxies have been inspected, and all those validly lodged have been accepted. Votes have been received, representing approximately 92.5 million shares or 16.24% of the issued capital of the company. Undirected proxies or open votes that have nominated the Chair as their proxy will be cast in favor of each resolution in the Notice of Meeting. Voting today will be conducted by way of a poll on all items of business. You can change your vote up until the time I declare voting closed. I now appoint Chris Dedrick from Computershare as the returning officer for the poll and declare voting open on all items of business. The polling icon will soon appear. Please submit your votes at any time. I will give you a warning before I move to close voting. The first item of business is to receive and to consider the annual financial report of Zip and its consolidated entities and the reports of the directors and auditor for the year ended the 30th of June 2021. The annual financial report and the reports of the directors and the auditors are now laid before the meeting. There will be no vote on this item. This is a discussion item only. The company's auditor, Mr. Mark Lumsden of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu is present to take questions relevant to the audit, Zip's accounting policies, the auditor's report and their independence. Are there any questions or comments on the financial report or the reports of the directors and auditors, on the management of the company, or relevant to the conduct of the audit and the preparation and content of the auditor's report? These questions will be put to the auditor. Tai, do we have any questions?

No, we do not have any questions on this item.

Thank you, Tai. As I'm advised that we have no questions, we will now proceed to the resolutions set out in the Notice of Annual General Meeting. [Voting]

Item 2 is as follows: to consider, and if thought fit, to pass the following resolution as an ordinary resolution to adopt the remuneration report for the financial year ended the 30th of June 2021 as set out in the director's report of the annual financial report. If you wish to discuss this resolution, please submit your questions. Tai, are we seeing any questions?

No questions on this item.

Thank you. As I've been advised there are no questions, I will show the proxies received in relation to this resolution on the screen. I now put the motion. Shareholders can vote via the online portal. [Voting]

We will now proceed to Item 3. As I'm standing for election, I will now hand over the chair of this meeting to my fellow Independent Nonexecutive Director, John Batistich.

Thank you, Diane. Item 3A is as follows: to consider and, if thought fit, to pass the following resolution as an ordinary resolution that Ms. Diane Smith-Gander is elected as a Director of the company in accordance with clause 22.6 of the company's constitution. Diane will now say a few words as to her experience and qualifications.

Thank you, John. I seek election as the Director of the company at the AGM for the purposes of clause 22.6 of the constitution and ASX Listing Rule 14.4. I was appointed as an additional Independent Nonexecutive Director and the Chair of the company on the 1st of February 2021. It is a privilege to be a candidate for election to the Board of Zip Co Limited. I hope I will have your support as I believe I bring very relevant skills to the Board table. My tertiary qualifications are a Bachelor of Economics from the University of Western Australia and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Sydney. I'm a fellow and graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. I'm also a fellow of the Governance Institute of Australia and in 2017, received the President's award for outstanding service to the institute. My executive career was very heavily focused on the finance sector. I was an executive with Westpac Banking Corporation on 2 occasions for a bit over 11 in total, ending up as the head of the bank's operation and technology function. In between these 2 times, I had a stint as a partner with McKinsey & Company in the United States. Working with this world-leading management consultancy, I had exposure to and involvement with a wide range of business sectors, including financial services, pharmaceuticals and retail, not just in the U.S. but globally. I focused on transformations and transactions, which involved a great deal of post-merger support and IT delivery, both very relevant to Zip. Since returning to my hometown of Perth in 2009, I have been a full-time nonexecutive director. I believe in having a diverse portfolio of directorships. It's hugely helpful as insights and learnings from other situations make me a better director for Zip. For example, at AGL Energy at the Safety, Customer and Corporate Responsibility Committee, I have an opportunity to see different approaches to understanding and responding to customer needs. As Chair of the Safe Work Member Body for the Commonwealth Attorney-General's department, I'm exposed to the latest trends and techniques around workplace health and safety and up to a maximum of 4,550,000 shares to the Twisto sellers as the holdback consideration shares. If you wish to discuss this resolution, please submit your questions. Tai, are we seeing any questions on the portal related to this particular resolution?

None, Diane.

Thank you very much. The proxies received in relation to this resolution are on the screen. I now put the motion. Again, shareholders can vote via the online portal. [Voting]

Let's move now to item #5. Item 5(a), we are to consider and if thought fit to pass the following, again, as an ordinary resolution. To ratify the allotment and prior issue of convertible notes having an aggregate face value of AUD 400 million. We will have an opportunity to discuss this question -- this resolution now. Does anyone have any questions on this particular resolution?

No questions have come through, Diane.

Thank you, Tai. The proxies received in relation to the resolution will now be shown on the screen, and I will put the motion. Shareholders can vote via the online portal. [Voting]

Let's look now at Item 5(b), which is to consider and if thought fit to pass the following as an ordinary resolution. To ratify the allotment and prior issue of 22,471,911 shares issued to institutional investors on the 22nd of December 2020, under the placement at the issue price of $5.34 per share as announced on the 16th and 17th of December 2020. Are there any questions on particular resolution?

No questions on this item, Diane.

Thank you, Tai. The proxies received in relation to the resolution will now be shown, and I will put the motion. Again, voting is via the online portal. [Voting]

In terms of Item 6 of the notice of meeting, 6(a) asked us to consider and if thought fit to pass the following as an ordinary resolution. The employee incentive plan and the issues of securities under the employee incentive plan be approved for all purposes, including Exception 13(b) to Listing Rule 7.2. Are there any questions on this resolution?

None.

I'm sorry, Tai, I couldn't hear that.

There were no questions on this item.

Thank you very much. The proxies received in relation to the resolution are now on the screen in front of you, and I will put the motion. Again, voting is via the online portal. [Voting]

At Item 6(b), we are asked to consider and if thought fit to pass the following again, as an ordinary resolution that the giving of benefits to any current or future holder of a managerial or executive office in the group to which Sections 200B and 200E of the corporation's actually applies in connection with that person ceasing to hold that office be approved. Tai, do we have any questions on this resolution?

No questions on this business.

All right. Thank you very much. Let's look at the proxies that we've received in relation to this resolution, and I will put the motion. Please vote via the online portal. [Voting]

Let's turn our attention now to agenda Item 7. At 7(a), we are asked to consider and if thought fit pass the following as an ordinary resolution to grant the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Larry Diamond or his nominee 29,092 shares under the employee incentive plan. Tai, have we received any questions at all on this particular resolution?

No questions on this resolution.

Thank you. The proxies received in relation to the resolution will come up on the screen, and I am now putting the motion. Again, your voting is via the online portal. [Voting]

At Item 7(b), we are asked to consider and if thought fit, to pass the following as an ordinary resolution. To grant the Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer, Peter Gray or his nominee, 27,924 shares under the employee incentive plan. Tai, do we have any questions on this particular resolution?

No questions on this resolution.

Thank you. Again, we will show the proxies that we have received in relation to the resolution on your screen. And the motion is now put. Again, voting is via the online portal. [Voting]

Let's move to consider Item 8. Item 8(a) asks us to consider and if thought fit pass the following each as an ordinary resolution. To grant $256,016 worth of performance rights under the employee incentive plan to Larry Diamond or his nominee. Larry is a Director of the company. Do we have any questions?

No questions on this item.

Thank you, Tai. The proxies will be shown on the screen and the motion is put. Shareholders are able to vote again via the online portal. [Voting]

At Item 8(b), we consider and if thought fit to pass the following as an ordinary resolution that we will grant $245,716 worth of performance rights under the employee incentive plan to Peter Gray or his nominee. Peter is the Director of the company. Are there any questions on this resolution, Tai?

No questions.

Thank you. Proxies again will be shown on the screen and the motion is put. Shareholders can vote again via the online portal. I'm sure you all are familiar with that sentence as I am now, but I will continue to say it. [Voting]

At Item 9, we have Item 9(a) to consider and if thought fit to pass the following as an ordinary resolution. To grant 105,504 performance rights under the employee incentive plan to Larry Diamond or his nominee, Larry being a Director of the company. Do we have any questions?

No questions.

Thank you, Tai. As usual, we will show the proxies that have been received in relation to this resolution on the screen and the motion is put. Voting will be via the online portal. [Voting]

Item 9(b) is as follows: to consider, and if thought fit, to pass the following as an ordinary resolution to grant 101,260 performance rights under the employee incentive plan to Peter Gray or his nominee, Peter being the Director of the company. Tai, have we received any questions on this one?

No questions.

Thank you. The proxies received in relation to the resolution are on the screen. And I have now put the motion. Shareholders can vote via the online portal. [Voting]

At Item 10, we are asked to consider and, if thought fit, pass the following as an ordinary result -- as an ordinary resolution. I think I must have said that about 15 times now. So apologies for that stumble. The resolution is that the maximum aggregate amount of remuneration that may be paid to Zip's nonexecutive directors in any financial year is increased to $1.5 million, effective immediately. Tai, we received any questions on Item 10?

No questions on this item.

Thank you. So we will show you the proxies that we have received in relation to the resolution on the screen. I now put the motion. Shareholders can vote as always, via the online portal. [Voting]

Now that concludes the resolutions to be voted on today. Thank you for your patience with that. Could all shareholders voting online, please now ensure that they have indeed submitted their votes. In a couple of minutes, I will close the voting system. This is the warning that I said I would give you back at the beginning of the meeting. So please ensure that you have cast your vote on all resolutions. And I'm now going to pause to allow you time to finalize those votes. [Voting]

If anyone has any questions in relation to the submission of online votes, these can be put into the normal question functionality before I close the poll. So Tai, I'm going to take that brief pause now and ask you in a couple of minutes to let me know if there are any questions, if any come through, please let me know as they come through. Tai, have we received any questions?

No questions on the poll.

All right. Thank you. So I will now declare the poll closed. The staff of Computershare will process the poll. And the results of the poll will be announced to the ASX once they are available. We now have an opportunity to move to other business. So I'm looking for any other business that might be lawfully brought forward, which will include any questions that you may have on my address or the Managing Director and CEO's address earlier in the meeting. This is the opportunity that I alluded to, to give shareholders a moment to ask questions on these things. So Tai, do we have anything coming through in our question?

Shareholder question from Mr. Arafat. As CEO, what has been the biggest challenge you have faced this financial year thus far?

Thank you, Mr. Arafat. And Larry, that is definitely a question for you. So let me hand directly to you.

Yes. Thanks, Diane. Look, I think when you kind of look globally, it's obviously been a difficult time for many, just living conditions, particularly with COVID, remote working, some jurisdictions are able to go into the office, others are under lockdown for extended periods of time like our teams in Melbourne. So I think the biggest challenge for us has been really an internal one, which is as we've gone global, how do we bring the company together, make it cohesive embed culture, leadership principles. It's a big reason why as soon as -- the Board has opened. I spent 2.5 months in America. We do feel now that as the Board is reopening, and we're coming out of lockdown that will have a good internal positive momentum. I think the other big one is really been about talents. I think what we've seen is just the fight for talent is becoming increasingly competitive. It's easy to switch jobs when you're sitting in a chair at home and also because of the borders, it's been difficult for talent being ported in. So again, really, the people side of the equation has probably been the biggest challenge for us. On the positive, I think a lot of things have accelerated quicker where our merchant's ecosystem players are looking to do deals and accelerate faster and travel time really does cut that out. So it's probably internal, internal culture, embedding culture, organizing our group globally. And we feel like those -- those challenges are now parting as we look forward.

Thanks very much, Larry. The Board really did appreciate your preparedness to lurk into the unknown, which is international travel at the moment. And I would like to extend our thanks to your family and your broader community for their willingness to allow that. I can see our Chief Operating Officer smiling because he's thinking I'm glad I wasn't the one that had to get on a plane and then go through. Of course, you don't see the many cancellations of flights and other matters that make international travel such a fraught process. But I did love the Times Square, LinkedIn place, thanks for giving us that shining moment. Tai, have we got any further questions?

Question from Mr. [ Jay Kumar Bandari ], how would Zip address the intensifying competition and validate its market position?

Thank you. That's a great question. And of course, there has been a huge amount of activity in the buy-now-pay-later sector of recent times. And as Larry and I both said in our addresses, we really genuinely believe this is an absolute validation of Zip's reason for being. So Larry, perhaps you'd like to make a few more comments.

Sure. So I think, first and foremost, what we've seen over the last 6 months, 1 year, 2 years, really is validation of the BNPL sector, something that we've been working on for over 8 years. And as a result of this, we think it actually accelerates how quickly BNPL players can actually gain traction and bring forward the future, new partnerships, new opportunities. And so I think competition is actually going to benefit for the overall sector. In terms of us and how we think about it, there's a few limbs to it. The first is, as I mentioned in my address, the areas of what our competitive advantages and continuing to invest in the brilliant basics around credit decisioning for short and long duration, having that global offering and really creating a differentiated proposition. And what that will allow us to do is really 2 things around new customer acquisition and also existing customer acquisition. We've, again, are finding merchant and ecosystem partners, such as the likes of Adyen, Stripe or Microsoft enables us to acquire customers and continue the growth engine or the flywheel. And then what happens is those customers move into an app. And I think what you're seeing today is we're investing a hell of a lot in the app to drive an increased transaction frequency, preference for our customers. There's a lot going into the Zip app, not just in Australia, the U.S. and globally, which is really driving engagement levels. And I think finally, there's lots of partnerships out there. And because we are one of the few truly global BNPL players that presents many, many opportunities, which we explore every day. And if I just look at the U.S., for example, where there might be the 6 largest credit card issuers. They're really the credit card issuers of the customer of today and yesterday. And so we really see ourselves as having an opportunity to be that sort of credit card issuer of tomorrow. And there is space for many to kind of play there. Given the size of the addressable market, the TAM as we sort of touched on earlier, whether you look at retail, you look at bill payments, so the payments of ecosystem is getting bigger and bigger. APIs are advancing that. And given our product and tech capabilities put us in a really strong position to get a share. So yes, thanks.

Thanks, Larry. Tai, do we have another question?

Also from Mr. Bandari, what are the plans for crypto trading offerings? And will the company be acquired developing its own?

Thanks very much, Mr. Bandari. I have to say that question around crypto is certainly a very topical one and I'm sure we've all seen the reports that have been around the Commonwealth Bank and their particular initiative in this arena. And so clearly, Zip as a very fast forward next-generation financial service provider is going to be really paying attention, and we'll be continuing to offer exciting and innovative new features. So of course, we are considering what our footprint will be in savings and trading via cryptocurrency. But of course, any change that we have in this area, we'll be announcing to the ASX in the usual way in accordance with our practices. Pete, do you -- anything you'd like to add to that at this point, any reflection?

No, other than to supplement that with it is a very heavily requested feature from our customers. So we're exploring it intently.

Yes. Thanks. I think that is the point. It's the customer is really first in Zip's mind. And so as the customer requests, we will respond. Thanks. Tai, do we have any further questions?

A question from [ Joshua Alexander Genzer ]. How are you going to tackle the inedible rise in interest rates across the globe?

Yes. Okay. So the rise in interest rates across the globe. So we've got sort of a global economic question there. Now you've heard a lot in our addresses about Zip's approach to keeping very close to customers, keeping very close to our merchants. This gives us the ability to understand at a very granular level what is actually going on in our markets. And when you combine this with our approach to responsible lending, the way that we are continuing to invest in our world-leading approach to credit decisioning. I think we are very well placed to understand what the pressures will be on our customers, on our merchants. And respond to ensure that our lending continues to be responsible. But Larry, you might want to add a little more on this front given that you've recently been considering it in great depth.

I think Pete wants to take that one.

I might take that one, if it's okay.

Okay. Thanks, Pete.

I think to -- again, to supplement that on the debt funding requirement of our business, we're quite well placed should increasing rates be a medium-term eventuality as we continue to develop history, track record and scale, we're able to deliver efficiencies from our off-balance sheet funding facilities that should more than offset any increases to base rates. So we're certainly well placed as we continue to scale to deliver better, efficient, weighted average cost of capital.

Thanks, Pete. Tai, what's the next question for us?

There's several shareholder questions on this topic. Do you have any intentions of listing in the U.S.?

Thank you. That is a perennial favorite, of course. And I think we have been giving a great deal of focus to the U.S. market and the trajectory of the company there. It's very obviously the largest addressable market for buy now pay later at the moment. And so much activity goes there. And we, of course, have acquired the QuadPay business and now rebranded that as Zip. So it's not unexpected that we will have questions on this topic. We're always looking to make sure that we have as relevant an offering in the U.S., not just for our consumers and our merchants but also for investors, large pools of capital in the United States. So we're looking to continue to understand our options in this arena. And I think that we would leave it at that. Any more questions there, Tai?

Question from [ Staffan Construction Pty Limited ] for you, Diane. How many shares does the Chair hold?

That's a good question, Tai. How many shares do I hold?

So I can speak to that, Diane. So it's important to note the Board has a high level of ownership and is aligned to shareholders. All board members own shares. And in October of '21 as part of our rem report, we approved a nonexecutive Director of shareholding policy. That says nonexecutives required to build a shareholding to the monetary value equal to 1x base member fee at cost value. The chair currently owns 2,500 securities and remembering that the Chair is only new to the Board, we would expect some increasing of shareholding over time, in line with our nonexecutive director shareholding policy.

Thanks very much, John. It's clearly my intention and the intention of all of the Zip directors to meet that shareholding requirement, and we will ensure that, that occurs over time. Thanks. Tai?

Another question from Joshua Alexander Genzer. How will you tackle the short sellers?

Thanks for that question, Joshua. A lot of the short selling is a result of activities related to the convertible bond. Maybe I'll hand to Pete to flesh out this topic.

Yes, that's right, Diane. So we have seen heightened levels of short selling or short positions since the convertible bond was issued and that is a function of hedging against that facility. Interestingly enough, the short position has decreased quite significantly in the last 4 weeks. So it is remaining a constant area of focus. And ultimately, we need to continue to deliver against those who are betting against us by exceeding our targets and continue to deliver on the strategic objectives of the business.

Thanks, Pete. Tai?

Joshua also ask how we turn the share price around?

Obviously, we're extremely focused on growing the business globally, and we believe that Zip has a very strongly differentiated offer that will resonate with consumers, with the merchants. And as we continue to grow the TTV line, and we continue to grow revenue and then see more profit full to our bottom line that this will resonate with investors. And that's what we need to focus on to ensure that we're as well understood in the market as possible and that we have very positive success in the consumer markets. The share price will follow that as an outcome. Tai?

Another question from Staffan Construction. Did Larry find an institutional investors in the U.S.?

There were many facets scenarios to the U.S. So Larry, maybe you'd like to comment on how you saw that institutional investor space, some of the commentary that was around the meetings that you held.

Yes. Thanks for the question. There's definitely a lot of -- there's a huge amount of interest in the buy-now-pay-later space, and of course, not many pure-play BNPLs. I think what we found is that the -- prior to a couple of months ago, the brand in the U.S. was very much QuadPay. And so there's a lot of education awareness. And what we can say is a lot of instos that we're starting to build relationships with. They're starting to do work on the business. And I think it's an interesting time for us now that we have that single global brand and as a consumer and merchant proposition as well as an investor proposition. And we are spending a lot more time on the engagement side, particularly with the U.S. buy side. We're looking to hire a Director of Investor Relations in the U.S. as well. But there's -- I'd say there's a lot of excitement, a lot of appetite. Probably, we're starting to see some instos buying on the register. But equally, lots spending time modeling and understanding the Zip model, and we will continue to drive engagement with them and hope to bring on more over the future.

Thanks, Larry. Tai?

Another question from Josh. How do you propose to tackle Investor Relations going forward?

Thanks, Joshua. Investor Relations is obviously going to be very important to Zip going forward. And we are continuing to build out that particular function, which sits under Pete Gray's area. Pete, do you want to talk a little bit about how the experience has been and what your aspirations are in this arena?

Yes, certainly. So we have obviously received some feedback with regards to our performance with this function. It remains a critical component of focus. And obviously, as we expand to become a global business, we clearly need to show up in different ways in markets like the U.S. where, obviously, we're seeing an increasing percentage of our transaction volume, revenue and merchant relationships. So we have a number of open roles that we're looking to fill as we invest resourcing in this function to expand overall, but particularly with the U.S. focus.

Thanks, Pete. Tai?

Joshua also asked Peter Gray mentioned that there will be big partnership announcements before cyber weekend. Are you expecting to announce it?

Pete, maybe you could take that one.

Yes. Look, thanks for the question. It's a little bit unclear where -- which remarks you might be referring to. Obviously, Larry has touched on a few new relationships that we have announced today, including Singtel Dash. We've obviously recently announced Microsoft partnership, which is a significant development in the U.S., which allows us access to all Microsoft Edge browsers. So obviously, we're working every day to deliver more and more strategic partnerships, which will significantly expand our reach or our ability to acquire new customers.

Thanks, Pete. I think the Edge announcement may have been the one that you're alluding to at that particular point. Tai?

Question from [ Scott Fielding ]. When do you expect to become profitable?

Thanks, Scott. Obviously, the Board approves the forward budget for Zip every year. And we have a 10-year look forward which, given the way the company is growing and the amazing opportunities ahead of us. So I can tell you one thing about that 10-year look forward that what we put on the paper and predict today is going to be very different to what transpires probably not in aggregate, but definitely to each of the individual line items. So we are working on the pathway to profitability. We understand the various scenarios for the company, but I'm sure you don't really expect me to predict the point in time. But thanks very much for that question. It's something that is we're very focused on. Thanks. Tai?

There are no further questions, Diane.

Well, thank you, shareholders, for that range of questions that put us all through our paces and really went to the things that the Board is very focused on and the areas that our management team are working very intensely on. So I'd like to thank everyone for their continued support of Zip and for the attendance today at our virtual meeting. And so I'm declaring the meeting closed at 8:32 in Perth and 11:32 in the East Coast. And so I will now ask Lumi to close the virtual meeting system. Thank you, everybody.