Two and a half years after launching its product in France, Qonto, the neobank for SMEs and freelancers, announces it has successfully raised an additional €104m in a round including historical investors Alven and Valar, as well as two new global investors: China-based Tencent, and DST Global. Two business angels with great fintech expertise are also joining the round: Taavet Hinrikus (TransferWise’s co-founder/chairman) and Ingo Uytdehaage (CFO at Adyen).
This is the largest funding round ever for a French fintech, and brings the total amount of funds raised since the company was founded in April 2016 is €136m.
Giving entrepreneurs the banking experience they deserve
Qonto makes business banking easier for SMEs and freelancers. Combining design and innovative technology, it provides financial services to businesses: it offers a 100% online and mobile current account, a smooth and modern interface, responsive customer support, at a fair and transparent price.
Since its public launch in July 2017, Qonto has attracted 65,000 SMEs in France, Italy, Spain and Germany. In the past quarter, the number of business customers doubled in the three new markets opened in 2019. Transaction volume exceeded 10 billion euros in 2019 with revenue quadrupling compared to 2018.
Accelerating growth and becoming a fully-licensed European bank in 2020
This Series C funding will allow Qonto to extend its leading market position in France while accelerating growth in the three new markets launched in 2019: Italy, Spain and Germany. The funding will help Qonto grow its business and attract new small and medium businesses while also strengthening the product including making more adaptations to local customer needs.
The funding will also be used to grow the Qonto team from 200 to 300 within a year.
It will allow the fintech to invest in major technical developments to better serve SMEs with a product that helps manage their company’s finances (payment services, bookkeeping, team collaboration tools). Qonto was granted a Payment Institution licence in June 2018 and has built its own Core Banking System. The funding will be a key support in Qonto’s ambition to attain its own credit institution licence by the end of the year and become a bank in order to offer new services to its customers.
“We are honoured to be supported by leading global investors who have backed the most successful companies that have revolutionized their industries. Also, having two great entrepreneurs who have successfully scaled European businesses into global champions is a valuable support to our ambition to accelerate our growth and become the best everyday banking service for small and medium businesses in Europe” say Alexandre Prot and Steve Anavi, co-founders of Qonto.