Mollie received investment to develop online payment service
The Dutch payment service Mollie raised $800 million in its latest round, raising its valuation to $6.5 billion. The main investor was Blackstone Corporation. Despite the rather large value, the company is known in narrow circles.
Mollie was founded in 2004, but only managed to reach unicorn status in the fall of 2020. The company’s valuation increased significantly after attracting a $100 million investment.
The $800 million financing was the largest for Mollie, and made the service the third most expensive in the European fintech segment.
The sharp demand for the company’s services increased during the pandemic, making its user base grow significantly.
Mollie has chosen an excellent strategy, its products are focused on small businesses, in contrast to competitors that are designed to provide services to large market participants. In addition, the company operates in the market in Europe, while others are trying to conquer the U.S.. Representatives of the service said that it has reached the level of profitability, and the funds raised will go to expand the audience of users by launching in new countries, primarily in the UK. Next, Mollie will be presented in Asia and Latin American states. In addition to expanding positions, the company intends to expand its staff from 480 to 780 people, which will be recruited within six months.
The online payment processing technology that Mollie uses was developed by Adrian Moll. Initially the company was engaged in text messaging, but later it had to refocus its products on financial transactions.
During the pandemic, there was a surge in demand for online purchases, prompting the need for instant digital payments. Using Mollie proved to be extremely convenient in this environment, and in just one year, more than $10 billion in transactions were processed. In 2021, this amount will exceed $20 billion. At present more than 120 thousand active traders use the service every month and 400-500 new clients register every day.
The value of Mollie is still far behind the market leader, fintech company from the U.S. Stripe. The latter is valued at $95 billion, with more than 200 thousand new companies registered on its platform since the pandemic began, including Zoom, Instagram, Salesforce and others.
It should be noted that the phytech segment has been actively developing in recent years, and competition among market participants is growing rapidly.
