Here are Europe’s largest fintech funding rounds in 2022
Despite one of the worst years for companies on a macro-economic level and massive declines in value for a number of big names, Checkout.com, Klarna, SumUp and Scalapay all had massive funding rounds in 2022.
Image source: Checkout.com, Northzone, Sebastian Siemiatkowski, Scalapay (LR clockwise).
Fintech lost its crown as the top industry for venture capital funding globally in Q3 this year, according to Dealroom, but it wasn’t all doom and gloom.
Many big names in fintech had very successful funding rounds this year, and while some of the biggest raises also saw big cuts, it’s not too surprising after the boom that was 2021.
After the rise comes the fall, and record levels of investment are hard to keep up with, but there were still a number of big increases this year from the likes of Klarna and Checkout.com.
So here are some of the biggest fintech funding rounds from the past year, with a bonus feature from a VC firm when you get to the end:
Scalapay
In February, Italy got another unicorn when buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) startup Scalapay scored $497 million in its Series B round.
The funding round pushed the fintech’s valuation above $1 billion and consisted of $213 million in equity capital and $284 million in debt capital.
Tencent and Willoughby Capital led the round, with participation from Tiger Global, Gangwal, Moore Capital, Deimos and Fasanara Capital.
Launched and founded in 2019, BNPL, which offers three different late payment options for customers, had raised $115 million in a Series A round led by Tiger Global last September.
Read more: Italian BNPL fintech Scalapay joins European unicorn club with $497m Series B
Summarize
The payment service provider raised 590 million euros to reach a valuation of 8 billion euros in June.
The London-based fintech had reportedly sought a €20 billion valuation at the start of the year, which would have positioned it as one of the UK’s most valuable startups, but after a year of downturns, it still ends the year pretty close to the top.
The latest fundraising round was equal parts debt and equity and was led by Bain Capital Tech Opportunities.
“The funds we have raised will enable us to continue to build out our product ecosystem, expand into new markets, pursue value-added acquisitions and continue to level the playing field for small merchants on a global scale,” SumUp Co-Founder and CFO Marc-Alexander Christ said at the time.
Read more: Payments company SumUp raises €590m to reach €8bn valuation
Klarna
It really has been quite a year for BNPL giant Klarna.
The Swedish fintech started the year on a high, reportedly valuing its next raise at $50-60 billion, less than a year after it raised $639 million.
Just five months later, however, Klarna raised $800 million for a post-money valuation of $6.7 billion — a big drop from its 2021 valuation of $45.6 billion.
Chief executive Sebastian Siemiatkowski lamented that the round took place in “possibly the worst circumstances to hit equity markets since the Second World War”, marking one of many in a now infamous series of value cuts.
Read more: Klarna confirms $800m funding but laments ‘steepest drop in global equity markets in over fifty years’
Checkout.com
Last but by no means least, Checkout.com raised a whopping $1 billion in a Series D funding round in January at a valuation of $40 billion.
Fintech’s biggest surge of the year snuck in right at the start before too much of the macroeconomic climate had time to crumble, and saw the payments processor rocket up the valuation charts.
However, since the fintech scored possibly the largest fintech funding round Europe has ever seen, it has reduced its valuation to $11 billion, ending the year with as much of a bang as it started it.
Revolut has now taken the crown for highest-value startup in Europe, but founder and CEO Guillaume Pousaz seemed unphased by the move, saying: “Valuation is an investor component. I’m a founder, so I only care about building, about net revenue growth and margin. I almost want to tell you that I don’t care at all because I care where my income goes, and that’s it.”
Read more: Checkout.com raises $1 billion for ‘Web 3.0’ strategy, fintech valued at $40 billion
*Bonus VC Firm*: Northzone
In its biggest fundraising ever, Northzone raised a whopping €1bn.
The venture capital firm, which has an impressive portfolio of a number of fintechs, plans to use its tenth funding round across the US and Europe to back the best companies of the next decade.
The European VC’s portfolio includes the likes of Zopa, Klarna, TrueLayer, Yonder and Wagestream, and it plans to use the funds to invest in global consumer and enterprise companies.
Read more: VC company Northzone raises 1 billion euros
