Soldo fintech scaleup, with headquarter in London but an Italian heart, offering a multi-user expense account for companies, complete with Mastercard and an administration interface that simplifies the entire process of managing business expenses, raised a series B round worth 61 million dollars, led by Battery Ventures and Dawn Capital (see the press release here).
The first is a technology-focused investment company with extensive experience in cloud software; while the second is a specialized investor in fintech and B2B software, which includes iZettle and Mimecast among its investments. The round was also subscribed by Silicon Valley Bank, Connect Ventures and Accel (a Palo Alto-based venture capital firm which has invested in Facebook, Dropbox, Spotify, BlaBlaCar, Deliveroo, Slack and other big names in innovation). Both Connect Ventures and Accel were already Soldo shareholders, having participated in the previous 11 million dollar round of June 2017, led by Accel and subscribed, in addition to Connect, by InReach Ventures, U-Start and R204 Partners (see here a previous post by BeBeez). In turn Connect, InReach Ventures, U-Start and R204 Partners, together with private investors and the founder Carlo Gualandri had previously capitalized the startup for another 10 million euros. All for a total of 82 million dollars of capital raised since the beginning of the activity in 2015.
In fact, in January 2015, Soldo was founded in London by Mr. Gualandri, one of the fathers of internet in Italy, co-founder of Virgilio and the gaming company Gioco Digitale, in addition to having participated in the foundation of the online bank Fineco. The startup has its registered office in the United Kingdom, although the technology team is headquartered in Italy, and is regulated by the British FCA. It is specialized in the management and control of business expenses. Prepaid Mastercard cards and an intuitive app allow you to digitize transaction data and related information (such as supporting photos) when they are made with the full integration of these data with travel management software and expense reports Zucchetti, Sarce, Concur and Expensify and business accounting software such as Xero, Quickbooks, NetSuite and SAP. The company holds an e-money license in Italy and Ireland, where it has recently obtained the third license of this type ever granted. It currently has around 60,000 customers in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Italy.
The capital raised in this last round will be used to further consolidate Soldo’s leadership position in the United Kingdom, making it ready for all its European customers in the event of Brexit, as well as expanding into new European markets and doubling its staff in the next 12 months. Mr. Gualandri said: “Most companies still use reimbursable expenses, spreadsheets and manual processes to manage the expense management cycle. Time savings and further control over company spending and expense management that Soldo offers companies of all sizes is a real keystone and we will continue to accelerate growth and consolidate our position as market leader in the UK, Italy and Ireland over the next 12 months “.
