Banks
N26 achieves larger financing round than expected
The smartphone bank N26 has raised over $ 900 million from investors. With this financing round, N26 has become the most valuable FinTech in Germany. Photo: Christophe Gateau / dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
Neo-Bank N26 has received a large injection of funds. Despite the anger with the banking regulator Bafin, it is larger than expected. On one point, however, N26 has to make concessions to the Bafin.
The Berlin smartphone bank N26 has raised over 900 million dollars from investors and has become the most valuable FinTech in Germany with this financing round.
The valuation of the start-up is now over nine billion dollars, the company announced on Monday in Berlin. These numbers are around ten percent above the values that were reported in advance by several media a week ago. After the fifth round of financing, N26 is now the second most valuable German start-up behind front-runner Celonis, which is valued by investors at over ten billion dollars.
Company co-founder Valentin Stalf told the German press agency that the financing round meant “a very big milestone for N26, which shows how important digital banking has become”. “With the investors we got on board, we are also taking a very important step towards going public in the coming years.”
Restriction by Bafin
In the context of the new financing round, however, N26 also has to live with a restriction for a limited period of time. Stalf announced that the banking supervisory authority Bafin would issue an order in the near future whereby the growth of N26 over the next few months in Europe would be limited to “a maximum of 50,000 to 70,000 new customers per month”.
N26 does not communicate current customer numbers. Industry observers assume, however, that N26 has gained around 100,000 new customers per month in the past few months. At the end of September it became known that the smartphone bank had paid the Bafin a fine of 4.25 million euros because reports of suspected money laundering had been submitted late to the banking supervisory authority.
Continue growth
Stalf told the dpa that it was showing that the Bafin had a certain confidence in N26 as one of the fastest growing banks in Europe. “With this decision we can continue our growth path.” N26 will further strengthen the processes in the coming months. “Against this background, the slowed growth that we agreed on after talks with the German regulator is okay with us.”
Investors who have been involved in N26 so far include the insurance company Allianz, the Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC, the Chinese internet giant Tencent, Earlybird and the US investor Peter Thiel. The current financing round is led by the investors Third Point Ventures and Coatue Management, based in New York. The Dragoneer Investment Group and existing investors also participate.
Further expansions are planned
N26 wants to use the money to expand further and is focusing on continental Europe. For example, customers in Poland and Romania are to be won. A smaller test run is also planned in Brazil. N26 will also use the funds to further expand its digital banking app and expand its global teams. In the next few years, the company plans to hire a further 1,000 people around the world, primarily in the areas of technology, product management and digital security. N26 currently employs around 1500 people.
With this financing round, N26 is also expanding its range of share options for employees. While so far only managers have been involved in the company, the so-called “Employee Stock Ownership Plan” will in future be extended to the entire workforce.