Berlin based Penta, a challenger bank for startups and small businesses, has completed a €7 million investment round, funded by existing investor Inception Capital.
Launched in May last year, Penta moved out of private beta in December with a wait-list comprising 3000 local businesses. The company says user numbers have increased over 900% since its first seed round of €2.2 million a month after launch.
The firm, which piggybacks off the solarisBank banking license, says the new capital will be used to fund a recruitment drive, growing its existing team from 40 to 100 in the coming year to support its expanding user base.
In addition to being able to open a business bank account online in minutes, Penta’s customers can also issue multiple MasterCards to their team for easy expense management. In the coming months, the firm plans to roll out new features including automated accounting and international transfers.
The firm says 68% of its new customers accounts are businesses who are switching from their existing bank to Penta, while the other 40% are businesses who are incorporating.
Penta CEO and Cofounder Lav Odorovic sayas: “Startup founders and business owners waste so much time and money dealing with annoying admin tasks. That’s why we’re offering the tools like Multi-User that can help you get business banking done in a fraction of the time. We want to help businesses owners spend less time banking and more time focusing on their business.”