BNPL company Alma raises €210 million

French fintech Alma has raised 210 million euros in funding. With the capital injection it wants to expand across Europe into Austria, Luxemburg, Portugal, Ireland and the Netherlands. The company is already internationally active in Belgium, Germany, Italy and Spain.

The French ‘buy now, pay later platform’ Alma was launched 3 years ago and it is set to become a competitor of Klarna. In 2021, the payment provider expanded its product line by launching its Pay Later service, which allows customers to purchase a product and pay for after 15 or 30 days. It also offers paying in 12 monthly installments.

Transaction volume over €1 billion

According to Alma, it has partnered with 6.000 merchants and it processes over 1 billion euros per year. Alma doesn’t charge late payment fees, but instead it charges processing fees that merchants have to pay.

‘We want to be an effective alternative to traditional consumer credit.’

“We are developing a safe, reliable solution that resonates with the expectations of merchants and consumers”, explained Louis Chatriot, co-founder and CEO of Alma. “We want to be part of consumers’ daily lives and help them buy better, not just more. We want to be an effective and healthy alternative to traditional consumer credit. It is important for us to support the growth of merchants by bringing them new customers within the framework of a balanced relationship, unlike what we are seeing with the big digital platforms.”

€210 million in funding

In a closed Series C round, the company was able to raise 115 million euros. In addition, it raised 95 million euros in debt financing, bringing the raised funds to 210 million euros in total. The startup’s existing investors invested again, but it also attracted new investors like Tencent, GR Capital and Roosh Ventures.

‘Alma expects to reach more than 270 million customers in Europe.’

The funding will be used to expand into new markets across Europe this year. With the expansion to the Netherlands, Luxemburg, Portugal, Ireland and Austria, the company expects to reach more than 270 million customers.

Expanding B2B offer

The company also wants to distribute its product on a larger scale. In the first half of this year, customers will be able to use Alma as payment method with any merchant thanks to its mobile application. The company also wants to expand its B2B payment methods and develop split payments by using payment terminals in store.

The company currently has 200 employees, but it’s doubling in size to support growth in Europe. It has already hired Stéphanie Combe as Head of Finance (who formerly worked at Square), and Jonathan Trepo-Lantelme (formerly Zalando) as Chief Revenue Officer.