Qonto makes business banking easier for SMEs and freelancers. Combining design and great 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 and Qonto’s revenue quadrupled 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 news 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 great support in Qonto’sambition to attain its own credit institution licence by the end of the year and become a bank to offer new services to its customers. “Qonto is reinventing business banking, addressing an under-served SME and freelancer market. We’re happy to be backing Alex, Steve and their team in making banking smooth, fast, and efficient across Europe, and in turn letting small businesses focus on growing their businesses”, commented Danying Ma, Investment Director of Tencent. “Qonto is using technology to change banking for small and medium size businesses from a source of friction to a source of competitive advantage,” said Tom Stafford, Managing Partner of DST Global. “We are delighted to support Alex, Steve, and the team at Qonto as they continue to build a European champion.”
“Being part of the adventure since the seed round in 2016, we are delighted to invest in this new round and help Qonto scale further. In the past three years, we’ve been continuously impressed by the ambition and the talent of the whole Qonto team. They have launched an outstanding service that offers a great user experience to business clients. We are proud to help them build the next European leader!” says James Fitzgerald, founding partner at Valar.
“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 definitely a great chance to accomplish 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.