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While many entrepreneurs are presently face the rough reality of a VC funding compaction , Qontoisn’t one of them . The Paris - base commercial enterprise banking inauguration still has hundreds of millions of hard currency on hand . And it is using an unrevealed portion of its cash reserve to acquireRegate , an account and financial automation political program .
Qonto originally started with on-line business account with debit entry scorecard specifically tailored for little and medium businesses . Over time , the company elaborate its production offering to include invoicing tools , features to manage disbursement and plenty of integration with the fintech ecosystem to ease clerking , defrayal reconciliation , etc .
And that modern take on line banking has worked surprisingly well as more than 450,000 companies now have a Qonto account . While France remains Qonto ’s main market , the society alsoacquiredits German competitor Penta — and moved Penta ’s customers to its own weapons platform — and is available in Italy and Spain as well .
In 2022 , near the peak of the financing frenzy of 2021 and 2022 , the company raise a massive€486 million Series D funding round(that ’s $ 529 million at today ’s exchange charge per unit ) . Now Qonto need to deliver on its original vision of progress an all - in - one finance root for little and medium occupation .
As part of this imagination , Qonto is acquiring Regate , a French startupwe coveredafter it raised a € 20 million Series A round ( $ 22 million at today ’s exchange rate ) . Regate is an method of accounting mechanisation software - as - a - service startup .
It integrates directly with exist accounting software program platforms like Sage , Cegid and ACD so that Regate can focalise on fiscal automation . Regate customer can well track incoming payments , docket payments to suppliers , class through invoice and reception , and even access their banking company accounts from Regate ’s interface .
Since 2020 , Regate deal to pull 10,000 clients . The company also sells its product to accounting firm directly with 500 firms using Regate — 6,000 accounting firms are also Qonto customers .
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It ’s a different go - to - market strategy and intersection philosophy liken to Pennylane , anewly minted French unicornthat want to supplant legacy accountancy software entirely . Pennylane now also provides business bank bill and is displace into Qonto ’s main production territorial dominion .
“ We have grown our revenue by 3x in 2023 , ” Regate carbon monoxide gas - founder Laura Pallier told TechCrunch . But when Qonto come near Regate , they decide to sell the company to reach the next level . “ We had a rather vivid discussion on the discipline . . . We ’re convinced that the cockpit approach — with a tool that works for both SMEs and their comptroller — makes a lot more signified than multiple products . ”
With today ’s acquisition , Regate ’s squad of 100 employees will all join Qonto ’s current 1,400 - somebody faculty under a new business unit focus on financial tools for accountants . At first , there will be new integrations between both program .
After a while , Regate will be integrated with Qonto directly to improve several accounting automation features of Qonto , such as invoicing , accounts collectable , accounts receivable , etc . As for accounting firms , they ’ll also act as a new sales channel for Qonto .
“ The mind is that these two platforms will gradually become one . But it ’s go to be a gradual unconscious process , and we ’ll always be very thrifty to sustain the client experience for both corporate clients and accounting business firm , ” Pallier said .
More acquisitions in the future
While Regate ’s acquisition is only the second skill in Qonto ’s story , it ’s most likely not the last one . In part because its executives are glad with how Penta ’s integrating buy the farm , but also because of its current chance windowpane .
“ We encounter to have a planetary alignment . It would be a professional mistake not to look [ at potential skill ] . We ’re not the best at everything . So we should also stay humble and work with experts in their several William Claude Dukenfield , ” Qonto conscientious objector - laminitis and United States President Steve Anavi say TechCrunch at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona last calendar week .
“ We have an in - home team that looks at opportunity . In the better - case scenario , we sign a mickle . But even in the sorry - pillowcase scenario , we can become partners because we ’ve discover to bonk each other a little bit better over a very forgetful process , ” he added .
Qonto finds itself in a different position fromPayFit , another Gallic unicorn ( or former unicorn ) that leave a software - as - a - divine service creature concentrate on payroll . Yesterday , Les Échosreportedthat PayFit plans to lie off 14 % of the society , or 110 employees .
Why are thing wait easily for Qonto ? “ We have a healthy business example . It means that when we acquire a customer , after a few months it ’s a profitable customer . This is mainly because they compensate — we do n’t have any spare offering . So , liken to a peck of fintech companies or startups in general that have a free offering and then render to upsell client , we have n’t made that option , ” Qonto Colorado - founder and CEO Alexandre Prot told TechCrunch .
“ The 2d component is that we raised a very large amount of money two years ago . And we were a bit golden because the timing was right , ” he tally . Finally , rising interest rates have also make a new revenue stream for the troupe . And give Qonto ’s scale , the fellowship is handling very bombastic sums of money on behalf of its customer .
For these reasons , Qonto has passel of John Cash to expend on acquisitions . As many fintech startup are shin to raise a Modern funding bout , Qonto could become a consolidator in the quad . And we might be at the beginning of this integration form .
