London based fintech firm SumUp recently announced that it had raised over 750 million Euros in a recent funding round.

Fresh from a number of important acquisitions, the company recently underwent an oversubscribed round of funding. The round saw participation by existing lenders such as Goldman Sachs and Bain Capital Credit, as well as new investors Temasek, Crestline, and a fund managed by Oaktree Capital Management.

These funds will reportedly be used to continue expanding the company’s product range (organically and through further acquisitions done through M&A) and for refinancing existing debt facilities. Bain Capital executive, Bain Maughan summarised his thoughts about the company:

”We’re proud to be backing SumUp once again and we recognise the truly impressive strides made by the company over the past couple of years”

SumUp plans to acquire a number of other fintech and online payment services that would help boost its revenue. In doing so, the company aims to stand tall against other fintech unicorns like Klarna that have seen unparalleled growth during the lockdown.

About SumUp

The company has recently included services like POS and gastronomy in its dynamic product portfolio by acquiring central-European fintech companies like Goodtill and Tiller. These acquisitions are expected to help SumUp acquire millions of new customers in the U.K and other major European markets.

In addition to this, the company has also recently acquired Lithuanian mobile banking platform, Paysolut. The company is looking to further strengthen its 2000 member team in 2021 by opening 19 new international offices on three continents. These new offices will be located in Europe, U.S.A, Brazil and some parts of Asia.

The locations have been shortlisted considering the size of the markets in these countries and the availability of cheap labour. The firm has also recently launched its services in Romania in a bid to increase the expanse of its intra-Europe services. Furthermore, the company has acquired a full stake in the joint venture that it had been managing with Chilean firm, BancoEstado and will continue serving customers in the area under the exclusive ‘SumUp’ banner. The company is also looking to expand further into Columbia, the 4th biggest fintech market in the LATAM territory. Marc-Alexander Christ, the company’s co-founder recently said:

“As one of the fastest growing technology companies in the world, this cash injection – in addition to having the built-in option to expand the financing – will significantly accelerate the growth of our customer base, enhance SumUp’s technology leadership position, and drive the development of new services to support our merchants globally.”

Despite the setbacks caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, SumUp seems to have entered its strongest phase so far, in 2021.

The company has recently introduced new online-selling functionalities through the newly-launched ‘SumUp online store’ and has signed gift-card collaboration deals with tech giants like Google, Facebook and Instagram. All these developments are said to have been designed in order to further help merchants carry out smooth financial transactions in the face of financial uncertainty.

The company’s proprietary card terminals are currently used by over 3 million individual users and businesses around the globe. The company’s chief executive and co-founder Marc-Alexander Christ explained the importance of this achievement :

“Each day I continue to be impressed by how the SumUp team has faced down the challenges of the past year and continued to deliver the vital, payments technology that empowers small businesses all over the world; helping them to continue to be successful doing what they love best.”

Analysis

Amid the chaos caused by COVID, big-tech companies seem to be the only ones that have escaped the situation more or less unscathed. Suspension of most physical activities around the world and the rampant rise in usage of convenient tech services across the globe have helped fintech startups achieve unparalleled success in the past financial year.

Various European unicorns like Klarna and Stripe have paved the way for new-age fintech services to cater to a market that has been left largely unattended by traditional retail banks. A few of these startups are surprisingly already worth more than established banking giants like the German mammoth, Deutsche Bank.

This is a clear indication of the fact that new age consumers are choosing to opt for convenient, sustainable financial services that suit their needs.