BPCE finally buys iPaidThat

Another step in BPCE’s strategy to deploy full-service services for professionals, with the group’s decision to eventually buy iPaidThat. The start-up specialising in accounting automation for small and medium-sized businesses now fully integrates the bank’s offers.

FACTS

• Truffle Capital, the leading shareholder of the start-up iPaidThat, has officially announced its exit from FinTech. This exit is for the benefit of the BPCE group, which therefore announces the acquisition of iPaidThat from its historical investors, Truffle Capital but also Bpifrance and Adelie Capital.
• As a reminder, iPaidThat deploys a complete suite of tools to simplify and automate the processing of business invoices, from recovery to accounting.
• It currently has 5,000 users among the French small and medium-sized enterprises and some 1,000 users among the accounting firms.
• iPaidThat is also now growing at an annual rate of over 30%.
• With iPaidThat in place, BPCE is fulfilling its goal of having an all-in-one digital solution to facilitate the financial management of businesses.
• iPaidThat services will also be distributed in a facilitated manner, as part of a preferential offer, to the accounting firms that are already clients of the Group’s institutions.

CHALLENGES

• Finalize a collaboration: In 2021, BPCE, through the Banque Populaire Val de France, partnered with iPaidThat to help entrepreneurs and accountants. The banking group also decided to strengthen its support for professionals last May, announcing that it was expanding its partnerships with iPaidThat and Papernest.
• Supporting businesses in the broad sense: BPCE leaves banking services only to cover all financial needs of companies (invoices, collection, payments, bank reconciliation, accounting entries...). The acquisition of iPaidThat should enable it to create one of the most comprehensive financial management offers on the market for independent clients and small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as accounting firms.
• Take advantage of the new legislation: iPaidThat has also just received its official registration as a Dematerialization Platform Partner of the State (PDP). BPCE will also rely on this recognition to serve the 4 million or so companies established in France and subject to VAT in their mandatory transition to electronic invoicing.

MARKET PERSPECTIVE

• With the acquisition of iPaidThat, BPCE is now fulfilling its ambitions to extend its support for professionals beyond banking services. The group is more positioned here as a full-service financial services provider.
• On this subject, BPCE certainly comes with the legitimacy of a reference of the French bank, but in a market that is competitive by players now well established like Qonto or Pennylane.