Fintech start-up Scalapay has become Italy's first-ever unicorn after raising $497m (€444.6m) in a Series B investment funding round.
The "buy now, pay later" payment solutions company for e-commerce merchants has seen its market valuation exceed $1bn (€890m) following the funding round, which was led by Tencent and Willoughby Capital, with participation from Tiger Global, Gangwal, Moore Capital, Deimos, and Fasanara Capital.
Founded by Simone Mancini and Johnny Mitrevski in 2019, Scalapay offers three payment options for its customers -- Pay in 3, Pay in 4, and Pay Later -- allowing them to pay in three or four installments or in full after 14 days.
The company has raised over $700m (€626.2m) in funding to date, and since its Series A round in September, Scalapay's payment volumes have grown three-fold. It has also launched its Magic platform aimed at increasing conversion at checkout with repeat-like purchases and such.
"With interest-free installments, we transformed one of the most frustrating parts of the shopping experience, the payment, into something pleasurable," said Mancini, CEO of Scalapay.
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"Now with Magic, we are going one step further and helping European merchants transform their entire checkout experience, leverage a large network of shoppers, and offer repeat-like purchase experiences which drive significant increases in conversion."
"There is an incredible opportunity for Magic to redefine European e-commerce, which has a lesser reputation compared to its US peers," added Mitrevski, CTO of Scalapay. "With Magic, we have removed all the common friction points at checkout and addressed key reasons for cart abandonment such as signup or login, shipping, payment selection, and privacy consents. We have done this whilst respecting Europe's strict PSD2 and GDPR rules."
The latest funding will go towards helping Scalapay to double its workforce by the end of the year and expanding its executive team and company board, having already recently added former Venmo CEO Amit Jhawar.
"Scalapay is a brilliant solution that matches an elegant merchant solution with a simple but powerful user experience," Jhawar said. "I knew Scalapay was a winner when I saw the merchant and consumer experiences that perfectly delivered value to both sides of the two-sided network in southern Europe."
The company's clients include the likes of Decathlon, Samsonite, Nike and Pandora, and it is also an official sponsor of Milan Fashion Week.
(Pic: LinkedIn/Scalapay)
