Qonto raises $552 million

Qonto, the French startup offering digital banking solutions to SMBs and freelancers, has closed a $552 million Series D round at a ~$5 billion valuation. Tiger Global and TCV led the round, with participation from Valar, Alven, DST Global, Tencent, Alkeon, Eurazeo, KKR, Insight Partners, Exor Seeds, Guillaume Pousaz, Gaingels and Ashley Flucas.

Founded in 2016, Qonto offers an all-in-one solution including company formation, bookkeeping, company card issuing and cash flow services to 220k clients across France, Germany, Italy and Spain. The product isn’t free and prices range from €9 per month for the basic freelancer account to €249 per month for enterprise accounts.

The startup has a goal to serve 1 million clients in Europe by 2025.

“Since our launch in 2017, we’ve constantly strived to create the finance solution that energizes SMEs and freelancers, empowering them to achieve more. This new Series D funding round is an amazing opportunity for us to accelerate our hyper-growth trajectory by investing in our product, our customer service and our power to attract new talents. This funding round reveals the incredible dynamism of the French and European Tech ecosystem. We count on policymakers to continue their efforts to ensure entrepreneurship can succeed, leading to European and global champions that deliver innovation. This is only the beginning of our journey to best serve SMEs and freelancers and we couldn’t be more excited about what the future holds for us and our ambitions. The Qonto team is honored to welcome the most prestigious international investors to support our mission to become the leading business finance solution.” – Alexandre Prot, co-founder and CEO of Qonto.

“Qonto has revolutionized business finance for SMEs and freelancers by marrying simplicity with a unique all-in-one service. The company has seen a significant increase in clients across its European markets during the coronavirus pandemic. This also shows that customers’ needs are evolving during these unprecedented times. We have tracked Qonto’s incredible growth for some time and are delighted to partner with the entire Qonto team and support their mission to serve a rapidly growing European market.” – John Curtius, Partner at Tiger Global.

“We at TCV love to back visionary founders and could not be more excited to partner with Alexander, Steve and the rest of the Qonto team. We look forward to supporting them as they continue to bring best-in-class banking and finance solutions to millions of SMEs and freelancers across Europe.” – said John Doran, general partner at TCV.