Italy’s BNPL Unicorn Scalapay Secures $27M From Poste Italiane

Buy now, pay later (BNPL) startup Scalapay has secured $27 million in a Series B extension from Italy’s postal service Poste Italiane.

The fresh capital is an extension of Scalapay’s $497 million Series B in February and will go towards scaling and developing the startup’s workforce, executive team and company board, according to a press release Tuesday (May 3).

The new funding will also be earmarked for brand and product development. The firm has raised $727 million to date.

See also: European BNPL Provider Scalapay Raises Nearly $500M

Headquartered in Milan, Italy, Scalapay was launched in 2019 by Chief Technology Officer Johnny Mitrevski and CEO Simone Mancini to offer consumers interest-free multiple installment payment options. 

Following the February funding round, the company launched Magic, a checkout solution to help European merchants “transform their entire checkout experience,” Mancini said at the time.

Aside from being Italy’s postal service, Poste Italiane is also the country’s largest service infrastructure network, providing financial, insurance, payments, telco and digital services to households, businesses and public administrations. 

Read more: Italy’s Post Office Eyes Payments, Card Processor Acquisition

Founded 160 years ago, Poste Italiane has 12,800 post offices, 122,000 employees, €582 billion in total financial assets and about 35 million customers, according to the release. With its fully-owned subsidiary PostePay, Poste Italiane is the digital services ecosystem of choice in Italy with approximately 29 million payment cards, 28 million financial apps and 9 million digital wallets.

PostePay picked up the payments processing arm of the gaming company International Game Technology, LIS Holding S.p.A. and LISPAY S.p.A. for $785 million in February.

See also: Gaming Company IGT Sells Payment Business for $785M

The new acquisitions offer bill payment services, prepaid payment cards, telco, e-vouchers top up and technological solutions that include merchant and enterprise services, PYMNTS reported at the time.

Scalapay’s BNPL offerings include three options for customers: Pay in 3, Pay in 4 and Pay Later. Customers do not have to make any upfront payments and installments are interest-free. The startup offers its services across Italy, France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Finland, Belgium, the Netherlands and Austria.