Dec 3 (Reuters) - Affirm Holdings Inc, the lending startup founded by PayPal Holdings’ co-founder Max Levichin, has agreed to buy Canadian buy-now-pay-later provider PayBright for C$340 million ($264.4 million) in cash and stock. San Francisco-based Affirm in November had disclosed its application for an initial public offering that showed revenue for the three months ended Sept. 30 nearly doubled, while net loss narrowed. The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the shift to online shopping and deepened the appeal of alternative credit firms, which offer small interest-free installment loans to shoppers. The deal, which is expected to close in the first quarter of 2021, will give the companies a payment service with a larger merchant network across the United States and Canada, Affirm said here on Thursday. Affirm, whose major investors include Peter Thiel’s venture firm Founders Fund and Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC, said additional terms of the deal would not be disclosed. PJ Solomon acted as the financial adviser to PayBright. ($1 = 1.2861 Canadian dollars)