Afterpay rival Zip has put its foot down to chase global growth in the "buy now pay later" sector, purchasing PartPay for almost $50 million in a deal that will position it to attack credit and debit card ­markets in the US, Britain, South Africa and New Zealand.

PartPay, headquartered in New Zealand, recently launched in the UK and has exposure to the US via an 8.9 per cent shareholding in QuadPay. Zip also said on Tuesday it would invest a further $US11.4 million ($16.9 million) in QuadPay, which is based in New York, lifting the stake to 15 per cent.