French B2B Neobank Qonto reaches 600,000 customers, bank license files

“Is Qonto a real bank?” This is one of the top questions on French fintech startups in Google. The answer is no, but it can change. Placement CEO Alexandre Prot has revealed that he has applied for a banking license in France.

Qonto, which is aimed at European freelancers and SMBs, is currently operating under a payment institution license obtained in 2018, and has already made it possible to introduce it Buy now format, pay later (BNPL). However, credit institutional licensing allows you to provide target customers with scaling, saving and investment options.

As the current license is valid throughout the EU, Qonto has already been able to expand to several European markets, recently reaching a milestone with 600,000 customers. However, lack of credit licensing is a hindrance from aiming to reach 2 million customers by 2030.

Providing a more comprehensive solution seems like a natural move to compete with current banks, but getting a license and deploying credits is not easy. It explains why Qonto’s SMB Fintech competitors approached the issue in many ways, and why Qonto wasn’t catching up accurately.

Memobank was like that Established as a bank From the beginning, we will provide loans to SMBs, which will be outliers. FINOM works E-Money Agency (EMI) license includedhowever, they have just begun testing the kinds of loans that this intermediary foundation allows. Revolut has a fully Lithuanian license, but other than BNPL, it has yet to deploy credit options to businesses. I plan to do that this year.

Still, the marketing capabilities of its competitors, funded by both B2C and B2B, could have been a sign that Qonto needs to accelerate, especially as Revolut recently announced plans to seek French licences. Turning Paris into Western Europe Headquarters.

Although it doesn’t mention its competitors, ProT said Qonto’s timing was driven by “achieving profitability earlier than planned in 2023.”

Son of former President BNP Paribas Baudouin ProtQonto’s CEO was clearly already thinking about pursuing a credit licence, but that’s not just speculation. During the press conference, Prot confirmed that he and co-founder Steve Anavi were taking the idea seriously at one point, but ultimately rejected it because it required time and additional funding.

Having made profits since 2023 means that this hurdle now doesn’t require you to raise more funds for Qonto. $552 million set aside in 2022 At a valuation of $5 billion. PROT I recently said That “main, or sole reason, the reason you can raise additional capital is when you have large or very large M&A transactions, which are primarily paid in cash.”

In its eight years of existence, Qonto has made two acquisitions. I’ve taken over In 2022 I bought German competitor Penta and the accounting and financial automation platform regatta 2024.

The latter reflects Qonto’s positioning beyond banks and integrated financial management solutions, offering offerings that also include tools for invoices and bookkeeping.

This approach helped to grow in the European B2B segment. Prot refused to give a full breakdown of 600,000 customers, but he said Germany is now Qonto’s biggest market after France. In an unspecified order, Spain and Italy come next, followed by Markets entered in the second half of 2024: Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands, Portugal.

Still, Prot works under the assumption that it doesn’t choose Qonto unless some customers are credit institutions. That’s because this gives them an additional guarantee to their deposits, and they want to make the credit an option if they need it, if they need it, that they already have.

Qonto validated its credit demand with its later services. The company said it was launched in 2024 and has already promoted funding of 50 million euros (approximately $59 million). However, this offer is limited by current licenses. Both are for Qonto, which can only be borrowed from their own fairness, and for customers who cannot borrow for more than 12 months.

We’ve also compiled Qonto to help customers access other types of loans “Fundraising hub” Includes fact, Carmen, river bankand Silvr. Prot said Qonto plans to keep it for at least a few years. And some of these offerings are more specific than what the company wants to get into.

Still, becoming a credit institution by itself would unlock Qonto’s new revenues, both from the margins of credit and from the more ends of deposits that can be used for lending. Prot refused to disclose revenue figures, but said it had increased revenue last year by 30%.

However, PROT said this additional revenue was not a major factor in the play. Acquiring new customers Qonto sees this as an opportunity to reduce reliance on others and launch new products faster. Similarly, we have recently built our in-house card processors to increase acceptance rates while reducing our dependency on third parties.

With a team of 1,600 people, Qonto hopes to have the bandwidth to work on new product developments, such as the AI-enabled Qonto Intelligence layer, strengthening its banking infrastructure and risk management team.

The latter also aims to show French banking supervisors that they are ready and plan to work closely together to obtain their license. The process may still take years, but it is also part of Qonto’s broader “growth” efforts, which recently added several senior profiles to the board. These steps will also help lay the foundation for future IPOs, but it remains a long-term outlook.