The mobile bank N26 today announced its record-breaking €775 million Series E funding round, the largest financing round to date for a digital bank in Europe. The recent funding increases the company’s valuation to more than €7.75 billion, making the Berlin-based pioneer the highest valued fintech in Germany, and ranking it amongst the top 20 fintechs in the world.
The round was led by the New York-based tech investors Third Point Ventures and Coatue Management, and joined by Dragoneer Investment Group as well as N26’s existing investors.
N26 was founded in 2013 with a mission to build the first mobile bank the world loves to use. Valentin Stalf and Maximilian Tayenthal launched the initial N26 product in early 2015. Today, N26 has already welcomed more than 7 million customers in 25 markets. N26 has a 1,500-strong team of 80 nationalities based across the globe.
Valentin Stalf, CEO and Co-Founder of N26, stated: “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.”
The Mobile Bank will use its 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.
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.
