SlimPay, an innovative FinTech company headquartered in Paris, specializing in recurring payments, announces a fundraising of 15 million euros (pending authorization of the ACPR).
This round of funding, one of the most important in the European FinTech sector this year, marks a new stage in SlimPay's development and will allow it to support its rapid growth in France and internationally.
This fundraising was accomplished through a single investor: Prime Ventures, a growth capital firm with offices in the Netherlands and the UK. Prime Ventures invests in growing European firms with the objective of making them global leaders. A historic investor of Global Collect, Internet payment service provider acquired by Ingenico Group in 2014, Prime Ventures provides SlimPay with longstanding expertise in the European FinTech sector.
Founded in 2009 by Jérôme Traisnel and Jean-Louis Hoenen, SlimPay quickly established itself as THE specialist in recurring payments - subscriptions and repeat purchases - thanks to its expertise regarding the digitalization of SEPA direct debits. With 2.4 billion euros processed in 2014, SlimPay positions itself as the French leader in Direct Debit.
"Today we are witnessing a fundamental shift in consumption patterns, which establishes a new model founded on the usage, and no longer the ownership, of goods and services. SlimPay already supports more than 2000 stakeholders in the subscription economy, such as Deezer, Nespresso, SFR, Price Minister and EDF," states Jérôme Traisnel, SlimPay's co-founder and CEO.
Europe possesses a significant advantage over other areas, particularly the United States, namely the interconnection among its various banks and the normalization of its regulation and banking standards (SEPA). Facing a decline in the use of checks and the inadequacy of credit cards for subscription and repeat purchases, the advent of direct payments through bank accounts, coupled with other means of payment, presents a solution with great potential.
"The Single Euro Payments Area is on track, and it's presenting a real international trade development opportunity. A French or German merchant can now charge their clients in more than 34 countries. We have ambitions to become the European leader in recurring payments," adds Jérôme Traisnel.
Sake Bosch, founder and managing partner at Prime Ventures, recognizes the relevance of this model: "We know the internet payment industry quite well and recognized that SlimPay addresses a very important pain point both for internet subscription companies as well as traditional companies. In addition to that Jerome is a successful serial entrepreneur and the company has made an incredible traction in the market place already and well positioned to grow internationally." Sake Bosch is joining SlimPay board, as is Ron Vollebregt, co-founder of Global Collect, of which Prime Ventures was the first investor.