German Challenger Bank N26 Nets $170M In Series D Extension

Today, Berlin-based mobile banking upstart N26 announced that it raised an additional $170 million, extending its Series D round.

This transaction values the venture at approximately $3.5 billion, post-money, up markedly from the $2.7 billion post-money valuation N26 achieved following the first tranche of its Series D round—a $300 million deal Crunchbase News covered when news broke back in January.

News reports and Crunchbase data suggest this was an inside round, with existing investors contributing to the top-up transaction. These include the likes of Peter Thiel-backed Valar Ventures, the corporate venture arm of German insurance giant Allianz, Chinese internet conglomerate Tencent, and Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC, among others.

The capital contracted in this deal brings the company’s total funding to over $680 million in combined USD and Euro-denominated VC backing.

Since the company’s last round there’s been talk of expansion beyond N26’s beachhead markets in Europe. Last week, the company formally announced its launch in the United States. According to the company’s statement, “N26 is the first European challenger banking platform to launch in the US.”

Europe is home to a number of banking upstarts—like Atom Bank, Monzo, Revolut, and others—seeking to unseat incumbents by offering slick branding and a more full-featured banking experience mediated through mobile phones. London-based Monzo launched a “light version” of its app in the U.S. back in June, though a more feature-complete rollout is slated for later this summer.

In its U.S. launch announcement, N26 said it first opened an office in New York City back in autumn 2017, when the company had approximately 500,000 customers. Last month, the company announced it now serves 3.5 million customers worldwide. In addition to its Berlin headquarters, the company maintains offices in New York, São Paulo, Barcelona, and Vienna, collectively employing 1,300 people. N26 said it will use the new funding to continue expanding toward the goal of becoming “a global bank.”

Source. Crunchbase, Jason Rowly, July 18, 2019

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