FinTech: Checkout Joins Major League

Checkout, London-based e-payment start-up announces the largest ever FinTech Series A in Europe.

They raised $230 million from DST Global, Insight Partners and Singapore GIC, lifting their valuation to $2 billion. This round table stands out as no documents setting the terms of the agreement have been signed.
Goals: Increase their workforce threefold (from currently 345 employees) and speed up their growth rate in the US, Europe and in the Middle East.
Offer: This start-up was founded by a Swiss citizen in 2012, this unicorn’s technology enables businesses to accept different means of payment online. They feature a payment gateway, acquiring services and they also act as payment processor.
Targets: large-scale companies, with $25/30 million in payment volumes per year.
Business model: they charge a fee on transaction volumes as well as for their payment gateway service.
Customers:

Plans:
- Solutions for marketplaces
- Card issuing products for FinTechs
- Omni-channel offer with in-store POS devices

Self-sustained and profitable. This British unicorn claimed they made profit a soon as they launched. They became the third-largest FinTech worldwide, valued $2 billion and over 15% growth: a success which draws investors’ attention.
High potential market. The payment market still attracts investors as the e-payment sector could be worth $6,000 billion by 2021. Checkout intends to boost their growth pace and, over time, challenge the largest industry players.

Checkout is barely known by the general public and had never raised funds until this Series A. they stand out as the first FinTech ever managing to raise this much for a first funding round.
The e-payment market has been much alive these past months. Adyen, for instance, appears highly successful and their capitalisation increased threefold year-over-year. Also, a few days ago, InstaMed was bought out by JPMorgan Chase, and Checkout’s direct rival, Stripe, raised $245 million. Stripe’s valuation remains ten times higher than Checkout’s.

Category : Alertes quotidiennes