Pennylane wants to become the marketplace for corporate finance

FACTS

• Pennylane, a French FinTech pioneer in digital accounting solutions, has just announced that it has completed a €15 million Series A financing round.

• Its ambition is to become a true financial services marketplace for companies, somewhere between an aggregator and a bank.

• Pennylane raised the funds from its historical investors, Global Founders Capital and Partech, and brought in Hedosophia.

• FinTech is behind a solution that it calls "enhanced accounting", aimed at company managers, to help them better manage their finances and, above all, centralize their flows.

• To achieve this, Pennylane works in two steps:
  • first as an aggregator, via a partnership with Bankin' Bridge: customers can connect all their bank accounts, but also interface with their payroll software, their cash register solution, their merchant account (such as PayPal or Prestashop) or their drive to be able to store all the necessary receipts.
  • In addition, Pennylane Compta provides a real chartered accountant to assist the company in its decisions.

• Price: from 39 € / month and up to 230 € / month depending on whether or not the client benefits from the support of a certified accountant.

CHALLENGES

• Recruitment: this fundraising is primarily aimed at internal development. Pennylane currently has 75 employees and plans to recruit around 100 people by 2021, including chartered accountants, to meet the daily demands of its service, which it cannot currently manage.

• Offering an equivalent to the American Quickbooks: Intuit's accounting software is a reference in the United States, offering a unique solution that allows companies to centralize their financial flows by integrating all sorts of complementary tools, for example for tax filing and payment.

• Develop a SaaS version of its accounting software. Based on its successful experience with companies, Pennylane found that it also met the needs of accounting firms, which lacked the tools to manage the dematerialization of their clients' financial flows. This new business model would also enable it to accelerate its profitability by diversifying its revenue sources. Eventually, and by pushing this logic to its term, Pennylane wants to operate as a service marketplace by allowing its clients to subscribe to complementary offers always in line with their finances.

MARKET PERSPECTIVE

• This SaaS model adapts to the gradual addition of third-party value-added services, such as GoCardless and Qonto.

KEY FIGURES

• Launched in January 2020
• May 2020: €4 million seed funding raised from Global Founders Capital, Partech and Kima Ventures
• + 2 million euros in revenues
• 30 accountants, 15 developers
• + more than 500 customers (mainly start-ups, SMEs, e-merchants and restaurants)
• 60 to 70 new account applications per day 
• Some references: Yuka, luko, Planity