B2B Neobank Qonto Gets $115M In Series C Round

Qonto, a French startup Neobank that caters to B2B clients, has raised $115 million in a Series C funding round led by DST Global and Tencent, according to a report.

Investors Valar and Alven also took part in the funding round, as well as TransferWise Co-founder Taavet Hinrikus and Adyen CFO Ingo Uytdehaage. The startup said this was the largest funding round ever for a French FinTech.

Qonto focuses on a subset of small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) across Europe. The startup has said that business banking on the continent needs to be repaired, and that it can provide a much better experience with its mobile and online-first offerings. 

So far, Qonto has worked with about 65,000 companies in the past two and a half years. Qonto is operational in Spain, France, Italy and Germany, and handled €10 billion ($11.08 billion USD) in transaction volume last year. 

Qonto intends to squeeze more out of its existing markets, improve and upgrade the offerings on its platform, and focus more on local needs. It also plans to hire more employees with the capital.

In 2018, Qonto was awarded a payment institution license, developing its own banking apparatus from there. Qonto plans to get a credit institution license as well, which will open up new revenue streams. 

Qonto launched its corporate digital banking solution in 2017. At the time, the company said that business customers could access its digital and mobile services for a fee. The clients received a Mastercard, an IBAN account, as well as transfer and debit payment capabilities.

Challenger banks have been an attractive industry for venture capital activity, as firms continue to pop up and try to disrupt the status quo. In February of last year, OakNorth captured a large amount of funding. Compliance startup Chainalysis landed $30 million in a funding round, and Open Financial Technologies raised $4.6 million.