The mobile bank N26 announces $300m funding round – the largest private equity financing round for a fintech in Europe. The company is now valued at $2.7bn.

N26 has announced a $300 million Series D funding round led by New York-based venture capital and private equity firm Insight Venture Partners, valuing N26 at $2.7bn. The round also includes participation from GIC, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, and several existing investors.

„The $300 million funding represents the largest private equity financing round for a fintech company in Europe in recent years. To date, N26 has raised more than $500 million from the world’s most established investors including Tencent, Allianz X, Peter Thiel’s Valar Ventures, Li Ka-Shing’s Horizons Ventures, Earlybird Venture Capital, Redalpine Ventures and Greyhound Capital.”, according to the press release.

N26 is building the first global mobile bank. Currently operating in 24 markets across Europe, „it has more than tripled its customer base in the last 12 months to more than 2.3 million customers”, said the company.

N26 will use the proceeds to drive global expansion, starting with the US launch of its mobile banking product in the first half of 2019. The company aims to reach over 100 million customers worldwide in the coming years.

Valentin Stalf, CEO and co-founder of N26, said: “Around the world, millions of people still suffer from bad banking experiences and high fees. With Insight Venture Partners and GIC joining our renowned group of existing investors, N26 has the support of the best investors globally to disrupt one of the largest industries in the world.”

Harley Miller, Principal at Insight Venture Partners, said: “It’s increasingly rare these days to come across such a massive industry which hasn’t experienced disruption by technology. N26 is the clear market leader in the European mobile banking industry; the company is ideally positioned to expand to the US market this year, and build a formidable global digital consumer brand.”

„N26 makes banking flexible and more transparent for consumers. Whether it is existing features such as real-time notifications and no fees on card payments worldwide, or future functionalities like sharing accounts with a simple click, N26 continues to solve the banking challenges faced by digital consumers around the world.”, the bank said.

Since launching its first product in January 2015, N26 has welcomed more than 2.3 million customers in 24 European markets and processed more than €20 billion in transaction volume to date. Customers currently hold over €1 billion in N26 accounts and generate over €1.5 billion in monthly transaction volume.

The company employs more than 700 employees across 3 office locations: Berlin, New York and Barcelona. With a full European banking license and no branch network, N26 has redesigned banking for the 21st century and is available on Android, iOS, and desktop.

N26 currently operates in: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the UK. N26 plans to enter the US market in 2019 where it will operate via its wholly-owned subsidiary, N26 Inc., based in New York.