BNP Paribas is participating in a EUR1.3 million funding round for PayCar, a fintech startup for purchasing second-hand cars that emerged from the French bank's accelerator and incubation unit L'Atelier.
Founded in March 2015, PayCar provides a payment platform for the sale and purchase of second-hand vehicles between private individuals, offering an alternative to using bank cheques. The purchaser credits his/her PayCar account and, on the appointed day, the agreed price will immediately be transferred from the PayCar account to the seller with just a few taps on a smartphone screen.
PayCar began an incubation process at the “Accélérateur Fintech by L’Atelier BNP Paribas” in March this year, working closely for four months with the Group’s insurance arm BNP Paribas Cardif.
BNP Paribas says the purchase of a minority stake in Paycar will help finance the company's growth plans and bring valuable expertise from the bank in developing its products.
Jacques d’Estais, group deputy COO and head of international financial services, says: “For over three years now, BNP Paribas has been engaged in a process of Open Innovation in both Europe and the USA to develop fintech incubation and acceleration ecosystems designed to support the Group’s transition towards building the digital bank of the future. Our collaboration with PayCar is a perfect illustration of this. Our investment has twin objectives: to enable PayCar to develop its commercial potential and to help us prepare for the digitisation of bank cheques.”