B2B fintech Pleo plans massive expansion in Europe, tripling valuation to USD$4.7bn with $200 Series C raise
Fintech company Pleo, which simplifies business purchasing and expense management with smart business cards and software, has increased its Series C funding.
The service launched in Sweden in 2019 and the company reached unicorn valuation in July 2021 backed by Swedish investors Creandum and Kinnevik. Now, the valuation nearly triples to $4.7 billion, solidifying Pleo’s position as the largest European procurement management company
Jeppe Rindom, co-founder and CEO of Pleo, said:
“Our growth over the past year has been exponential, and investors have taken notice of our leading position. With such great partners, the future is extremely bright for Pleo and our goal to transform enterprise procurement management.”
The $200 million Series C raise is led by tech-focused Coatue Management, and Alkeon Capital also becomes a new investor in the company with this. Existing backers will also continue to invest in the company:
Kinnevik, Creandum, Bain Capital Ventures, Thrive Capital, Founders, Stripes and Seedcamp
Andreas Bernström, Senior Investment Director at Kinnevik, said:
“Over the last decade, technology has simplified many aspects of everyday behaviour in a transformative way. Pleo, like Slack and Zoom, is transforming the user experience in business expense management. The company’s success is a combination of relentless focus on product innovation and execution in marketing, automated onboarding and go-to-market. Perhaps most importantly, the founders have a genuine commitment and focus on their own people and company culture. We believe Pleo is uniquely positioned to become a category winner and we at Kinnevik are very much looking forward to continuing to support the company going forward.”
The investment will accelerate Pleo’s growth plans, including an aggressive rollout in Europe in 2022. The company is now aiming to step into 15 additional countries this year, starting in Finland, France, the Netherlands, Portugal and Austria.
Jeppe Rindom, CEO of Pleo, continues:
“The truth is that we didn’t need to raise more capital this year, but we had such a high demand for our Series C that this expansion became an opportunity. We have big ambitions to grow in Europe, and to help more companies solve their procurement management and give better tools to their staff. We’re now looking at 15 more countries in Europe, to be operating in 20 markets by 2023. This investment will help that journey, but we’re not taking it lightly. We will continue to be Pleo – pushing forward, doubling our workforce from 400 right now, creating new tools and features, as well as moving from invoice management and employee benefits to credit management and more. It’s a hugely exciting time and we look forward to the next stage of Pleo’s growth.”
Pleo’s founders Jeppe Rindom (left) and Niccolo Perra (right)
The funding will also strengthen Pleo’s goal of reaching one million active users by 2025. Already, it is seeing 1,000 new businesses every month getting started with Pleo, boosted by the free service introduced in the autumn.
Investing in its already 400-strong workforce is also a priority. It wants to continue to develop the existing product, expand the number of tools Pleo offers, and be able to help more businesses of all sizes to streamline their spending.
The Series C round was first announced in July 2021, two years after Pleo’s Series B round. With this expansion, it now becomes Denmark’s largest C round ever, and one of the largest in Europe.
