- Digital investment platform Bitpanda raises $263 million in funding to strengthen its team and double down on technology, international expansion and growth;
- The Series C investment round is led by Valar Ventures, with the participation of LeadBlock Partners, Jump Capital, Alan Howard and REDO Ventures;
- Austrian fintech unicorn Bitpanda is now valued at $4.1 billion, more than triple its last private valuation of $1.2 billion.
Vienna, August 17, 2021 — Digital investment platform Bitpanda raises $263 million in funding at a $4.1 billion valuation. The company will use the proceeds to strengthen its team and design the organisation for scale, while doubling down on state-of-the-art technology, international expansion and growth.
Signed just 4 months after gaining unicorn status, the Series C round is led by Valar Ventures, with the participation of Alan Howard and REDO Ventures, as well as existing investors LeadBlock Partners and Jump Capital. The Series C was signed earlier this month and is subject as always to clearance by the Austrian Financial Market Authority (FMA).
Founded in Austria in 2014 by Eric Demuth, Paul Klanschek and Christian Trummer, Bitpanda started as a crypto-trading company. Since then, it has grown into a well-rounded investment platform that gives everyone the freedom and flexibility to invest in what they believe in — commission-free fractional stocks, cryptocurrencies or precious metals — from as little as $1. With 3 million users, Bitpanda is one of the fastest growing fintechs in Europe. The company is on track to achieve 6x customer growth year over year, while their revenues will increase sevenfold in 2021 as compared with the previous year.
Since closing its series B funding round, Bitpanda has made significant progress towards becoming a leading investment platform. In April, the company announced it is expanding its product offering with commission-free stocks that users can invest in 24/7. In June, it tapped into the potential of the B2B market with Bitpanda While Label, opening its infrastructure to fintechs or banks that want to offer trading to their clients.
Headquartered in Vienna, Austria, Bitpanda now has a diverse team of 500+ people who represent more than 50 nationalities, as well as physical tech hubs and offices in 8 cities across Europe, including Vienna, Barcelona, Berlin, Krakow, London, Madrid, Milan, and Paris. The company recently announced the opening of its remote-first Blockchain Research & Development hub, focused on uniting talent around Europe to build state-of-the-art technologies that leverage blockchain for the future, and it plans to open new offices in Europe.
Four key executive hires have joined the team to shape the future growth trajectory of Bitpanda: Lindsay Ross, ex-Adyen and MessageBird, as Chief HR Officer; Irina Scarlat, ex-Revolut and Uber, as Chief Growth Officer; João Luís, ex-Farfetch, as VP of Engineering; and Michael Keskerides, ex-N26, as VP Product.
Eric Demuth, Co-Founder & CEO of Bipanda, said: “We started Bitpanda in 2014 with a clear vision: to bring investing closer to everyone, everywhere. We wouldn’t be here today without the efforts of our talented team members who are constantly “rolling up their sleeves” to make things happen. We’re grateful to share our journey with these incredible people — and that’s why a key area of focus for us is to keep strengthening our team by bringing onboard world-class talent.
We’re also grateful for the vote of confidence received from our investors, old and new, in this investment round. We look forward to working together as we shape the future of finance and grow Bitpanda into the #1 investment platform in Europe and beyond”.
Andrew McCormack, Founding Partner of Valar Ventures, said: “We believed in Bitpanda’s potential from the beginning and we are impressed by the results that Eric, Paul, Christian and the Bitpanda team have achieved. With more than 1.2 million users acquired in the first half of 2021, impressive net revenue growth and world-class executive hires, Bitpanda stands as the living proof that hypergrowth can be achieved in a sustainable way. We’re excited to further work together to bring the world of investing at the fingertips of everyone, anywhere.”
David Chreng-Messembourg, General Partner and Co-founder of LeadBlock Partners, said: “In this increasingly competitive market, many businesses are growing, some are profitable, but very few achieve hypergrowth in a sustainable way, and become market leaders. Bitpanda is certainly one of them. Having collaborated closely with Eric, Paul, Christian and the Bitpanda team, I was continuously impressed by their ability to innovate, to attract the best talents, and to execute on their vision. We look forward to continuing this exciting journey with them.”
ABOUT BITPANDA
Bitpanda makes investing accessible for everyone. Founded in 2014 in Vienna, Austria by Eric Demuth, Paul Klanschek and Christian Trummer, Bitpanda removes the barriers to investing by harnessing the innovative power of digitised assets and blockchain technology. With more than 500 team members and over 3 million users, the company is one of Europe’s fastest growing fintechs. The user-friendly, trade-everything platform empowers both first-time investors and seasoned experts to invest in the stocks, cryptocurrencies and precious metals they want – with any amount of money.
ABOUT VALAR VENTURES
Valar is a New York-based venture firm founded by James Fitzgerald and Andrew McCormack in 2010. Valar manages over $1.3B in AUM and is known for its breakout fintech investments including TransferWise, N26, Stash, BlockFi, Xero, TaxFix, Octane and Qonto. Valar’s core thesis is that an increasing number of transformative technology companies are being started outside of Silicon Valley and that the founders of those companies benefit from having a partner that understands their unique challenges and opportunities and can help them achieve optimal growth.
ABOUT LEADBLOCK PARTNERS
LeadBlock Partners is a venture capital fund based in Europe, founded by Jean-Marc Puel, David Chreng-Messembourg and Baptiste Cota. LeadBlock Partners invests in B2B blockchain and digital assets solutions. Its portfolio companies include Connecting Food, Direct Market, Tesseract among others. For more information visit https://leadblockpartners.com/
ABOUT JUMP CAPITAL
Jump Capital is a thesis-led venture firm specializing in early stage investments, focusing on data-driven companies across the Crypto, Media, Fintech, Application Software, IT and Data Infrastructure sectors. Investing with an operating-centric approach, Jump provides advocacy and support for entrepreneurs, complemented with institutional level resources. Visit https://jumpcap.com/ for more information or follow us at @jumpcapital
ABOUT ALAN HOWARD
Alan Howard is the founder of Brevan Howard Asset Management, one of the world’s top macro-hedge funds. He has invested in multiple leading companies in the fintech / blockchain space.
