Elaia (a European top-tier VC firm) and Bpifrance (the French national investment bank) acquire stakes in iBanFirst (French fintech start-up) in a €21 million third round of funding.
Global financial services provider iBanFirst has announced that it will continue to expand with the help of venture capital funds Elaia and Bpifrance, through its growth capital fund Large Venture. The pair join French funds Serena and Breega, which first invested in the fintech in November 2018 and have participated once again in this latest funding round. This Series C round of €21 million brings the total venture capital funding in the payment fintech to €46 million since its founding in 2013.
“The digitisation of the traditional economy is not only underway, but it has been drastically accelerated by the current health crisis,” said Xavier Lazarus, Managing Partner at Elaia. “The fintech sector, and especially the international payments sector, is on course to becoming one of the clear winners of this crisis period. While the bulk of the market remains in the hands of offline historical players, their quality of service and transaction costs are increasingly challenged. This is why we are both proud and delighted to support iBanFirst in its international growth and in the development of a leading pan-European digital platform specialised in B2B payment services and currency exchange.”
„Since closing its last funding round, iBanFirst has seen spectacular growth and has significantly developed its footprint in Europe, with the acquisition of Dutch and German competitors NBWM and Forexfix at the end of 2019.”, according to the press release.
The volume of payment transactions has almost tripled, with a year-on-year increase averaging 180% in March 2020, which, in turn, has led to three-figure revenue growth as well. To support this, the company’s staff numbers have also expanded, from 16 employees in 2016 to 180 employees in 2020.
iBanFirst boasts its own core banking infrastructure, making it a leader in B2B payment services and giving it a competitive advantage in the roll-out of its technological roadmap. This includes the forthcoming launch of a new payment tracker, as well as additional open banking (AISP) and import lending services.
iBanFirst provides a specialist online platform for multicurrency transactions. As an alternative to the traditional bank offer, iBanFirst enables a payment experience and package of financial services addressing the needs of SMEs in their daily operations.
Thanks to iBanFirst, financial teams can pay and receive payments in any currency, hedge foreign exchange risks, finance their international growth.
Founded in Paris in 2013, at a stone’s throw from the Champs-Élysées, by former bank executives and entrepreneurs, iBanFirst is a French company headquartered in Belgium, with operations in France, the Netherlands and Germany. It is regulated as a payment institution passported throughout the European Union and serves more than 4 000 customers all over Europe.
Member of the SWIFT network and SEPA homologated, iBanFirst holds AISP and PISP accreditations under PSD2.
Banking 4.0 – „how was the experience for you”
„So many people are coming here to Bucharest, people that I see and interact on linkedin and now I get the change to meet them in person. It was like being to the Football World Cup but this was the World Cup on linkedin in payments and open banking.”
Many more interesting quotes in the video below:
