In 2018, Satispay, a specialist in mobile payment methods, launched in Luxembourg. Its CEO, Alberto Dalmasso, explained that they saw it as a way to access French-speaking countries. After having exploited it, the company has just entered france. To develop it, it intends to rely on a financing round just completed.
Startup Satispay has announced a $320 million funding round. The fundraising brought together the transalpine investment company Mediolanum Gestione Fondi, Lightrock and the American fund Coatue. Greyhound Capital, an investor in the startup since its move to Luxembourg in 2018, also participated. In addition, donors included Twitter founder Tencent’s Block (ex-Square) and US venture capital firm Addition.
The Italian-born fintech plans to put some of that money toward its growth. This could benefit professionals working as IT freelancers . A device that brings together the self-employed in this area.
Funds raised will support the expansion of the start-up
One of the goals of this round of funding is to double the company’s workforce. Over the next 18 months, Satispay plans to hire an additional 300 people said Alberto Dalmasso, its CEO and co-founder. The goal is to increase the start-up’s workforce to 600 employees. The start-up has offices in Germany, Luxembourg, Italy, Milan, where it is based. It has also set up branches in some French cities .
Founded in 2013, the company provides merchants with mobile, web and in-store payment solutions. It also introduces its offering to the general public through a non-paying service:
-
- From cash back ;
-
- Sending money between individuals.
For pay an invoice with Satispay, users must fund their account in the application. The proposed payment method works on the prepaid system .
The fintech charges a commission of 1 percent for Internet payments up to $10 for its business formula. For transactions exceeding $10, it also applies a 20 $ cent service fee. At the physical point of sale, only this fixed commission is charged for purchases over $10.
The company’s customers are continuously growing
According to Sifted, 200,000 merchants in Germany, Luxembourg and Italy use the platform. Satispay also claims to have 3 million consumers . For the moment, these consumers are mainly in Italy, despite the numerous advertising campaigns linked to the cashback. If they use this new payment solution.
By 2021, the company still had 160,000 merchant customers and 1.8 million users in Italy, Germany and Luxembourg. This year marked the introduction of its new offer, incorporating the loyalty cards of merchants using its application.
Satispay’s Luxembourg subsidiary, established in 2018, has been granted its license as an e-money institution. However, it remains loss-making to date. The company ended its 2021 fiscal year with $3.5 million in losses. These losses add to the 6.5 million dollars deficit accumulated in previous years. These losses were recorded notwithstanding the growth in revenues. The company’s turnover has risen to 5.26 million dollars in 2021. This represents an increase of more than two times year-on-year.