German mobile bank startup N26 raises a whopping $900 million+, tripling its valuation to more than $9 billion in just one year
Daniel Levi
Posted On October 18, 2021
We last wrote about N26 back in January when the Peter Thiel-backed mobile bank N26 hit a new milestone after it surpassed 7 million customers in the EU and the US. In recent years, the German banking startup has been luring deposits from US heavyweights like Chase and Citibank. Since then, N26 has grown exponentially and investors are lining up to invest in the company.
Today, N26 announced it has raised a record-breaking $900+ million Series E funding round, the largest financing round to date for a digital bank in Europe. The round was led by renowned New York-based tech investors Third Point Ventures and Coatue Management, with participation from Dragoneer Investment Group as well as N26’s existing investors. N26 was also supported by Goldman Sachs Bank Europe who acted as the placement agent for the round.
The latest funding now increases the company’s valuation to more than $9 billion, making the Berlin-based pioneer the highest valued fintech in Germany, and ranking it amongst the top 20 fintechs in the world.
In an email to TechStartups, N26 told us the company will use the fresh funding to significantly expand its mobile banking offering. N26 will also scale its global team further, and aims to bring on board 1,000 new team members in the coming years, with a particular focus on the areas of product, technology, and cybersecurity.
In addition, N26 will significantly expand its employee equity pool, while broadening Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) participation to 100% of employees as part of one of the largest ESOP programs in Europe.
N26 was founded in 2013 by Valentin Stalf and Maximilian Tayenthal to offer mobile banking solutions to customers in the European Union through its subsidiary. Today N26 has more than 5 million customers in 25 markets. To date, N26 has raised more than $1.8 billion from the world’s most established investors, including Insight Venture Partners, GIC, Tencent, Allianz X, Peter Thiel’s Valar Ventures, Li Ka-Shing’s Horizons Ventures, Earlybird Venture Capital, Greyhound Capital, Battery Ventures, and others.
Valentin Stalf, CEO and co-Founder of N26: “This recent financing round solidifies the fact that retail banking as we know it has changed. With our fresh capital, we are in pole position to become one of the biggest retail banks in Europe, all without a single branch.”Heath Terry, Partner at Third Point Ventures: “N26 has established itself as a leading tech-forward global digital bank. We are excited to provide capital and strategic support to accelerate N26’s work to make digital retail banking accessible to millions.”
Maximilian Tayenthal, Co-CEO and co-founder of N26: “It is hugely important to us that we can share the success of N26 with our employees. Without them, we would not be the company we are today.”
To lay even stronger foundations for sustainable future growth, N26 has agreed with the German regulator to temporarily onboard a maximum of 50,000 – 70,000 customers per month. This will also be published in an upcoming order. With the tremendous interest and demand for the N26’s banking products, it is possible that new customers in certain markets may be temporarily redirected to a waiting list. Existing customers will not be affected, or have any changes to their accounts or their N26 banking experience.
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