Alma raises new funds to grow faster

FACTS

• Fintech Alma completes the largest fund raising in its history for an amount of 49 million euros.

• Its ambitions: to now target major retailers, diversify its offer and, in the long term, to establish itself abroad. These ambitions are underpinned by a desire for rapid growth in an attempt to pre-empt part of the market.

• This Series B financing round involves the investment fund Cathay Innovation, Idinvest, Bpifrance (via its Large Venture fund), Seaya Ventures and Picus Capital. 

• Thanks to these funds, Alma wants to launch three new products:
  • Deferred payment, at 15 or 30 days;
  • split payment over 12 months, which requires the company to obtain a credit establishment license, which is currently being obtained;
  • split payment for professionals; to this end, it has entered into an agreement with the BtoB Ankorstore marketplace.

• As a reminder, Alma's business model is based on the commission charged to merchants using its payment solution: 3.8% for payment in three installments and 4.2% for payment in four installments.

CHALLENGES

• Grow up fast. Launched only in 2018, Alma has since experienced very strong growth, driven by the massive use of e-commerce since the health crisis and by the renewed interest in fractioned payment. As a result, it has posted payment volumes multiplied by 6 in one year and 4,000 merchant customers (a number also multiplied by 6 over the same period).

• Changing scale by targeting large merchants and supporting them internationally. Through its business model, Alma seeks to capture significant transaction volumes, hence its choice to turn to large retailers, while continuing to target SMEs. It recently signed contracts with Devred, Kookaï, Kusmi Tea, KitchenAid and La Fée Maraboutée. It intends to eventually develop its offer internationally, according to the requests of its merchants established in several European countries.

MARKET PERSPECTIVE

• Alma is also waiting for a Payment Institution license, which will allow it to free itself from its current partnership with Wakam (formerly La Parisienne Assurances).

• Its prospects in figures:
  • In terms of recruitment, Alma should increase its workforce (50 employees) by three times in 2021.
  • Turnover: 10 M€.
  • 100 M€ of transactions
  • 2020 objective: €1 billion in transactions