The co-founders of Younited, Charles Egly and Geoffroy Guigou | Image credit: Younited
Paris-based Younited, an instant credit provider for the e-economy in Europe, announced on Thursday that it has raised €60 million in a new round of funding. The company has now entered the “unicorn” club at a valuation of €1.1B, a significant increase since the previous round announced by the company in May 2021.
The current round of funding came from Younited’s main shareholders Eurazeo, Crédit Mutuel Arkéa, Bpifrance via the Large Venture fund and Goldman Sachs.
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Instant credit for the e-economy
Founded in 2009 by Charles Egly and Geoffroy Guigou, Younited offers an online platform to connect and facilitate financial transactions between lenders and borrowers without the mediation of a traditional financial institution.
The company says: “Our Plug & Play technology allows global brands and e-retailers to increase sales by offering an instant credit solution at checkout, whether online or in-store. Neobanks and e-banking players integrate our instant credit solutions to expand the range and quality of services offered to their customers.”
With nearly one million customers, Younited provides access to instant, easy and transparent credit to help renovate your home, go on vacation, buy a new smartphone or for other projects. Currently, the company operates in France, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Germany, generating close to €2B in annual GMV.
Strong growth in 2022
Younited, which offers financing options for sums up to €50K, experienced strong growth in 2022. According to the company, it managed a +70 percent growth in GMV (+119 percent in 2021) to reach €1.6B and +54 percent of total revenues to reach 190 million euros.
With such growth, the company has quickly converged towards profitability. Younited’s growth is driven by both the “Direct-to-consumer” channel (+50 percent of GMV in 2022) and the “Partnerships” channel (+185 percent of GMV in 2022). The company’s Direct-to-Consumer business has been profitable in France since 2019 and in Italy since 2021. Younited has reported that it will also be profitable in all five countries this year (2022).
Introduced at the end of 2018, Younited’s “Partnerships” channel provides business partners, such as retailers and financial institutions, with the technologies and expertise needed to implement an instant credit solution on their platforms.
Merchants can implement the “Younited Pay” financing solution on their website or in-store in just a few days to finance shopping baskets of up to €50K for a period of up to 84 months. This solution offers its consumers a simple UX and all the consumer protection guarantees offered by regulated amortizing credit, unlike unregulated installment payment solutions or BNPL which perform little or no credit analysis and therefore offer little or no protection to borrowers.
Capital utilization
Younited says it will use the funds to continue the distribution of its “instant credit” and open banking solutions and the development of its “Partnerships” activity in all its geographies. Based on open banking services, which give users the opportunity to quickly reveal their bank account history, “Instant Credit” offers a quick and easy application procedure.
With a goal of reaching 80 percent by the end of 2023, the “Instant credit” offer now accounts for approximately 40 percent of loans financed by the Direct-to-Consumer channel in France, 97 percent of loans financed by the DTC Spain channel, and 100 percent of credits financed by the Merchant Partnerships channel.
Charles Egly, chairman and co-founder of Younited, said: “While Younited’s historical activity (“Direct-to-Consumer”) is profitable by 2022 in all 5 of our countries, this new fundraising will allow us to continue investing in our disruptive technology as well as in the distribution of our other activity (“Partnerships”) launched more recently.”
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