Qonto

Last updated
Qonto
Company type Private
Industry Financial technology
Founder
Headquarters Paris, France
Area served
 France, Germany, Italy, Spain
Number of employees
1,600 (2024)
Website qonto.com

Qonto is a French online payment institution for freelancers and SMEs. [1]

The financial technology company was founded in 2016 and its initial product, an online business account, was launched in July 2017 in France. By late 2023, Qonto had more than 450,000 business customers in the four European markets it served: France, Germany, Italy and Spain. [2] [3] [4]

As of 2024, Qonto employs 1,600 people across 4 countries and 500,000 business customers, and in September 2024, the company announced its launch in 4 new markets: Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands and Portugal. [5]

History

Qonto was founded in 2016 by Alexandre Prot and Steve Anavi as an online business banking startup. [4] [6] In January 2017, the finance startup raised €1.6 million ($1.7 million) via a seed round. [7] It then raised an additional €10 million ($11.3 million) in July of the same year, following the official launch of its service offering. [8] 18 months after its launch, it was reported that 25,000 businesses were using its banking services. [9] [10]

In 2018, Qonto was granted a payment institution license by the French banking regulator, the ACPR. [11]

By early 2022, Qonto had raised a total of €622 million with plans to expand throughout Europe. [12] [13] Its €486 million Series D funding round announced in January 2022 was the largest funding round completed in France at the time, [14] and valued the fintech company at €4.4 billion ($5 billion). [15] Following the round of funding, Qonto announced new features and services, including a product which aimed to simplify the management of team expenses. [16]

In April, the company announced it would be making €5 million in capital available to existing customers in the form of crowdfunding. The capital sold in 6.5 hours to 1,834 small investors. [17]

In July 2022, Qonto announced it would be acquiring German-startup Penta for an undisclosed sum. [18] [19] The deal would expand Qonto's European customer base to 300,000 businesses. [20] All Penta customers were moved across to the Qonto platform by the end of 2023. [21] [22]

Qonto launched a financing platform in 2023, where clients could finance an SME, without the need of a bank. [23] In March 2024, Qonto unveiled "pay later", a solution that allows customers to receive financing up to €10,000. [24]

In March 2024, Qonto acquired French accounting and financial automation solution, Regate. The acquisition was part of a wider plan to build an all-in-one finance solution for small and medium businesses. [25]

In September 2024, Qonto announced its European expansion in 4 new markets: Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands and Portugal. [5]

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References

  1. ↑ Pascale, Davies (July 13, 2022). "Cryptos, teamwork and boundary-pushing fintech: how Qonto is challenging Europe's banks". EuroNews.
  2. ↑ Bianco, Luca (August 9, 2022). ""In pochi click è tutto pronto". Qonto, la piattaforma che aiuta le PMI nella vita di tutti i giorni". Huffington Post.
  3. ↑ Heim, Anna (September 9, 2023). "Rainbow or storm?". Tech Crunch.
  4. 1 2 "Qonto, La Néobanque Des Entrepreneurs Continue Sa Percée". Forbes. May 24, 2018.
  5. 1 2 "La néobanque tricolore Qonto poursuit son expansion européenne". Les Echos. September 26, 2024.
  6. ↑ Chocron, Véronique (January 11, 2022). "Alexandre Prot fait fortune en modernisant la banque à papa". Le Monde.
  7. ↑ Dillet, Romain (January 16, 2017). "Qonto wants to become N26 for business banking". TechCrunch.
  8. ↑ Dillet, Romain (July 5, 2017). "Qonto launches its digital bank accounts for small companies". Tech Crunch.
  9. ↑ Hak, Andrea (February 11, 2019). "Here are the 5 hottest startups in France". TheNextWeb.
  10. ↑ Gibbs, Alexandra (October 16, 2018). "The top 10 most appealing start-ups for French employees in 2018, according to LinkedIn". CNBC.
  11. ↑ Cuny, Delphine (September 4, 2018). "La néobanque pour entreprises Qonto lève 20 millions d'euros". La Tribune.
  12. ↑ Guinot, Danièle (January 11, 2022). "Grâce à une levée de fonds record, la néobanque Qonto devient une licorne". Le Figaro.
  13. ↑ Drost, Frank Matthias (January 11, 2022). "Fintech Qonto baut Deutschland-Geschäft aus – und sagt Wettbewerbern den Kampf an". Handelsblatt.
  14. ↑ Piemontese, Antonio (February 8, 2022). "Le startup del fintech puntano ai servizi per professionisti e piccole imprese". Wired.
  15. ↑ Berthelot, Benoit (January 11, 2022). "French Fintech Qonto Raises New Funds at $5 Billion Valuation". Bloomberg.
  16. ↑ de Angelis, Camillo (February 25, 2022). "L'era dell'autonomia: come Qonto vuole cambiare il modo di gestire i team aziendali". Forbes.
  17. ↑ Francescangeli, Luca (April 21, 2022). "I clienti diventano azionisti: la nuova frontiera del crowdfunding europeo". Huffington Post.
  18. ↑ Schwarz, Dennis (July 15, 2022). "Qonto steht vor der Übernahme des Konkurrenten Penta". Handelsblatt". Handelsblatt.
  19. ↑ Moise, Imani (August 15, 2022). "European fintechs muscle up through flurry of mergers". Financial Times.
  20. ↑ "French fintech Qonto intends to acquire German rival Penta". Reuters. July 22, 2022.
  21. ↑ Kluge, Christoph M. (November 15, 2023). "Finanz-Start-up will den Mittelstand gewinnen: Qonto expandiert von Berlin aus in Deutschland". Der Tagesspiegel.
  22. ↑ Lederer, Édouard; Gueugneau, Romain (January 31, 2023). "Les néobanques veulent se muscler dans le financement des PME". Les Echos.
  23. ↑ Azoulay, Gilbert (June 5, 2023). "Entreprendre dans la tech: « Les diplômés des écoles de commerce sont bien armés pour organiser un business »". Le Parisien.
  24. ↑ Benhamou, Eric (March 26, 2024). "Qonto relance la bataille des « pros » avec une offre de paiement fractionné". La Tribune.
  25. ↑ Dillet, Romain; Heim, Anna (March 6, 2024). "Flush with cash, French fintech unicorn Qonto acquires Regate". Tech Crunch.
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