A new fintech unicorn is born in Europe. With a round of 486 million euros, the French Qonto sees its valuation more than quadrupled to 4.4 billion, confirming also at the beginning of 2022 the golden moment for the financial innovation sector that has seen in the last year and means a marked increase in the interest of venture capital in Europe as in the rest of the world. By January 2020, Qonto’s valuation had stopped at 811 million.
The French fintech, which offers an all-in-one financial solution for SMEs and professionals, currently has 220,000 business customers in four European markets, who have a monthly subscription starting from € 9 for integrated business management, from banking operations and daily finance to accounting and expense management.
With this new series D investment round, a record for the transalpine fintech market, Qonto’s ambition is to reach the threshold of one million business customers in Europe by 2025. To achieve this goal, the company is also playing an important game. Italy.
In the last year, Qonto has experienced a strong expansion in Italy where it has been present since 2019, its second largest market after the French one, with a growth in customers of 145% in 2021 compared to the year before, with a quadrupled turnover. Now the commitment is to strengthen the positions in our country, expanding its team and continuing to build a tailor-made offer for local customers.
The new resources will be used to further increase its presence in Italy, Germany and Spain, investing one hundred million in each market, aiming to quadruple its team to over 2,000 people by 2025, with half of the new hires outside France.
In Italy, Qonto expects to reach over one hundred employees next year compared to the current 40. “This round marks a turning point for Qonto and will allow us to strengthen our leadership in the Italian market. Our roadmap is very clear: over the next two years we will invest over 100 million euros in Italy, which will allow us to recruit the best talents and focus on developing products and services tailored to the needs of Italian SMEs and professionals “. explains Mariano Spalletti, Qonto country manager Italy.
This latest round is jointly led by new investors Tiger Global and Tcv, as well as eight other new underwriters: Alkeon, Eurazeo, Kkr, Insight Partners, Exor Seeds, Guillaume Pousaz, Gaingels and Ashley Flucas. They will join current investors Valar, Alven, DST Global and Tencent, who have renewed their support for Qonto by participating in this new investment round.
