Scalapay, a Milan-based scaleup fintech company, which has developed a payment solution for third parties that allows customers, online and offline, to buy immediately and pay later (Buy Now Pay Later or BNPL) without interest, in three installments, has raised 155 million dollars at a 700 million dollar valuation, as part of a Serie A round (see the press release here), after having raised 48 million dollars in a previous round last January (see here a previous article by BeBeez).
This last round was led by Tiger Global and Woodson Capital also joined as a new investor, while the round was followed also by investors of the previous January round or Baleen Capital, Fasanara Capital and the Italian family office Ithaca Investments (which in the fintech sector in Italy has already invested in Fido, Yapily and Soldo). Scalapay has thus achieved a total of 203 million dollars raised by investors in two years since the launch of the business.
Founded in 2019 by Simone Mancini, Johnny Mitrevski, Raffaele Terrone, Mirco Mattevi and Daniele Tessari, the company follows in the footsteps of the Swedish unicorn Klarna, who, founded in 2005, brought the BNPL model into vogue, acquiring in particular last year the Italian Moneymour specialized in online purchase installment services (see here a previous article by BeBeez).
Since launch, Scalapay has extended its services to Italy, France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Finland, Belgium, Holland and Austria and the team has reached 150 people. Scalapay already boasts over 3,000 partner merchants, including Decathlon, Calzedonia, Alberta Ferretti, Intimissimi, Liu Jo, Luisa Spagnoli, Moschino, MSGM, Twinset, Bata, Aosom and Bricobravo.
The new capital will be used to support the team’s growth and international development, as well as the launch of new products. Already last July, the scaleup appointed Pingki Houang, former general manager of ShowroomPrive and ceo of FashionCube (one of the leading European omnichannel retailers) as general manager and appointed Arlene Reynolds, former Head of Global Operations at Just Eat, to oversee the activity and expansion in various countries.
Alex Cook, partner of Tiger Global, said: “Scalapay has quickly become a major player in the European payments and BNPL industry. We are impressed with their product development pipeline and their focus on success for merchants. We are excited to support Scalapay in this next phase of its growth”.
Francesco Filia, ceo of Fasanara Capital, added: “While comparable scaleups like Klarna and Afterpay have launched deposit accounts and entered the banking space, Scalapay’s development program is focused on helping merchants deliver new experiences for customers who convert to purchases. leveraging BNPL with a totally new approach”.
