Pleo, a Denmark-based fintech startup, announced on Tuesday it secured $56 million through its Series B investment round led by Stripes, a leading New York-based growth fund, with participation from existing investors, Kinnevik, Creandum, and Founders. This funding comes less than a year after Pleo secured $16 million through its Series A investment round led by Kinnevik and brings the total funding amount to $79 million.
As previously reported, Pleo was founded in 2015 and offers smart payment cards for employees, which enables them to buy the things they need for work while keeping the companies in control of spending. The company noted it “revolutionizes” business spending by reducing administrative complexity, eliminating expense reports, and simplifying bookkeeping. The company stated:
“Pleo provides smart company cards paired with software and mobile apps to automatically match receipts and track all company spending in real-time with detailed analytics. Pleo eliminates expense reports and automates bookkeeping tasks as it integrates directly with accounting software providers, saving companies time and money.”
Speaking about the investment, Jeppe Rindom, Co-Founder and CEO at Pleo, stated:
“Managing work-related spending has traditionally caused headaches for employees and their employers alike. Pleo is making the whole process simpler, quicker and more transparent. We are building a solution to fit the needs of today’s modern workforce – reshaping how businesses manage company spending, and how they operate, enabling staff to feel more empowered and ultimately more productive. By making the employee experience our primary focus from day one, we’ve achieved outstanding growth, rave reviews and extremely strong customer satisfaction and loyalty.”
Pleo noted it will use the funding round to expand more than triple its headcount, from 120 to 400 employees by the end of 2020 and to accelerate product development as it aims to service the entire purchase process for SMEs across the whole of Europe. This includes adding credit, invoices, mobile payments, a vendor marketplace, VAT reclaim and more. Rindom added:
“While we are competing with banks in this one area we are not aiming to become one. We remain committed to providing the best product in the market for business spending. We haven’t touched the funds from our Series A round less than a year ago, yet we see enormous potential and demand for Pleo. We are delighted to partner with Stripes and are confident the partnership will help us achieve our ambition to become the de facto standard for business spending.”