Qonto, a European business finance solution, announced that it will pursue a securities crowdfunding offering on investment marketplace Crowdcube.
Qonto claims to be the first European unicorn to “launch a pan-European community equity raise campaign in partnership with the European platform Crowdcube.”
The firm, which has raised €486 million in Series D funding, is “inviting primarily its clients across its four markets (France, Italy, Spain and Germany) to become shareholders.”
With this community equity raise, the company’s goal is “to share its success and part of its journey with its customers, empowering them to become shareholders.”
Qonto aims at “strengthening its existing relationship with its clients and building a European entrepreneurs community committed to supporting its mission.”
Qonto has teamed up with Crowdcube, the European platform “for investment into private companies.”
Crowdcube’s mission is “to empower start-ups and scale up customers to become shareholders, enabling them to shape the future of companies they believe in.”
Alexandre Prot, Co-Founder, and CEO of Qonto, stated:
“Qonto is an entrepreneurship story: created by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs. Our clients fully understand the value of our service and our company mission. We are, with this community equity raise, taking a step forward and empowering our clients to take part in our journey as shareholders of the company. Customers that decide to join our mission by investing in our company, will not only help us shape our product but also contribute to our success alongside our current prestigious international investors. We are very excited and proud to be the first European unicorn to invite our community to become shareholders.”
Bill Simmons, Chief Operating Officer of Crowdcube, remarked:
“Our mission at Crowdcube is to democratize investment into private companies by making it more easily accessible to anyone willing to take part in the story and success of the companies they believe in, and for companies to offer their community just that. We are thrilled to partner with Qonto on their first community equity raise campaign and help them build a strong community around their mission and around Europe.”
As noted in an update shared with CI, Qonto will “invite primarily its customers over the age of 18 that have access to a Qonto account as Account Holder, Admins, Managers or Accountants in France, Italy, Germany or Spain.”
A two-phase campaign, “starting with a pre-registering session lasting until April 19, will then be followed by the launch of the campaign during which Qonto’s customers who pre-registered will be given first access to invest.”
Qonto’s main goal with this campaign is “to build a powerful community of European entrepreneurs that believes and supports their mission, aiming to involve as many customers as possible.”
Qonto claims to be “the leading European business finance solution.”
It aims to “simplify everything from everyday banking and financing to bookkeeping and spend management.”
With its fast and innovative product, “highly responsive customer service and transparent prices, Qonto energizes SMEs and freelancers so that they can achieve more.”
Launched in 2017 by Steve Anavi and Alexandre Prot, Qonto “serves more than 220,000 clients in 4 countries (France, Germany, Italy and Spain) and employs more than 500 talents in Paris, Berlin, Milan, and Barcelona.”
Since its creation, Qonto has “raised a total of €622 million from Valar, Alven, the European Investment Bank, Tencent, DST Global, Tiger Global, TCV, Alkeon, Eurazeo, KKR, Insight Partners, Exor Seeds and Gaingels to support its global growth ambitions.”
Since 2020, Qonto has “been listed by the French government in the Next40 index, which brings together the 40 most promising scale-ups in France with the potential to become a global leader.”
Crowdcube, one of the largest securities crowdfunding platforms in the UK – that has long operated in Europe, has recently created a France-facing website while its Spanish version has announced it will seek to be regulated under the new European rules.
Since it was founded in 2011, Crowdcube has “funded over 1,300 deals. With over one million members, a total of €1.4bn has been invested on the platform to date.”
Businesses that have successfully raised funds with Crowdcube “include Revolut, Monzo, BrewDog, Citymapper, Cowboy, Heura Foods, Freetrade (primaries and secondaries), and Pod Point (acquired by EDF).”
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