N26 challenger
Vivid receives 100 million euros from investors
The Berlin start-up bank Vivid has successfully completed a financing round of 100 million euros. Photo: Silas Stein/dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
The Berlin start-up bank Vivid is on the way to a billion dollar valuation. The competitor of the smartphone bank N26 is receiving fresh money from investors and wants to use it to increase its rate of expansion.
Smartphone bank Vivid Money has successfully completed a EUR 100 million financing round.
With the new round, the Berlin company doubles its valuation to 775 million euros, Vivid announced on Monday. The third investment round was led by Greenoaks Capital with participation from Ribbit Capital and Softbank Vision Fund 2.
On the one hand, Vivid wants to use the money from the investors to win additional customers. Over 500,000 people have signed up for Vivid to date. However, the account is not actively used by all users. Artem Iamanov, co-founder of Vivid, said the money will also be used to hire additional employees. The financial platform should be expanded into a “super app”.
Not just a checking account
Vivid not only offers the classic functions of a checking account. Customers can also invest their money in stocks, funds and other financial products in the app. You can also invest in cryptocurrencies via Vivid. Even after the downturn in the prices of Bitcoin, Ethereum and other coins in the past few weeks, interest in cryptocurrencies is unbroken. Industry insiders expect that larger Vivid competitor N26 will also introduce similar investment features in the foreseeable future.
Co-founder Alexander Emeshev announced that Vivid’s investment and banking offerings and the editorial blog with workshops will be significantly expanded for customers. In addition, customers should be able to network with each other in the future in order to grow into a large financial community.
Vivid Money is active in Germany, France, Spain and Italy. In April, the company collected 60 million euros in a second round of financing, primarily from American venture capitalists, in order to compete against neobanks such as N26 and Revolut, but also against traditional institutes and direct banks. However, Vivid is also in competition with online brokers such as Trade Republic or the Berlin cryptocurrency specialist Nuri (formerly Bitwala).