The rumor had been going around since last November. Qonto, the neobank for the pros, has just announced a fundraising of 486 million euros. Enough to bring its valuation to 4.4 billion euros. This is the highest amount to date for a French fintech.
This operation once again underlines the good shape of French fintech. A sector that benefits for its development from low interest rates, investment incentives, and teleworking measures that boost the digital sector.
With this funding round, the company, founded in 2017, intends to accelerate its growth in Europe. Qonto already boasts a portfolio of more than 220,000 customers in Germany, Spain, France and Italy. The bank is targeting one million SME and self-employed clients in Europe by 2025.
Multiplication of staff
The group also plans to quadruple its workforce, bringing them to more than 2,000 employees by 2025.
The neobank for professionals, which offers traditional banking services (IBAN, bank card, transfers and direct debits), also wants to simplify the monitoring of its customers’ activity. Beyond keeping the professional account, Qonto offers financial management for companies, with possible integrations with accounting software, as well as the management of expense reports and receipts in real time after payment.
In 2018, the neobank obtained a payment institution authorization in order to have its own banking engine, without having to go through Treezor. The start-up, which had initiated discussions with the Prudential Control Authority (ACPR) to be recognized as a credit institution, had ended up dropping the case, its co-founder Alexandre Prot had indicated last September.