Mobile payments app Payconiq wants to expand in Europe

Payconiq, a mobile payment app supported by several Benelux banks, wants to expand further in Europe. To achieve this goal, it just raised 20 million euros in a funding round led by its existing shareholders.

With the money, Payconiq wants to become the European alternative to Mastercard and Visa. The mobile payments app was launched by Dutch bank ING in 2015. Two years later, the initiative was backed by several Dutch and Belgian banks, including Rabobank and KBC.

After Benelux, Europe is the next destination

The service, which enables consumers to use their smartphone to pay for things in-store and online, but also lets them send and receive payments from other individuals, is now ready for the next step. After gaining some traction in the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg, the company wants to expand further in Europe.

To make this possible, the company raised 20 million euros from existing shareholders. In an interview with Dutch newspaper Het Financieele Dagblad, chief operating officer Michael Pechner even says the company could become an alternative to Mastercard or Visa.

‘We can become European alternative to Visa or Mastercard’

Recently, the European Commission said these two companies are too dominant in Europe and it would like Europe to have its own strong payment infrastructure. Payconiq would love to take their place. Pechner: “Our solution is, unlike the well-known payment methods, not dependent on the credit card companies. I don’t see why we couldn’t become the European alternative to Visa or Mastercard. Technically, we are ahead of them.”