Here are the biggest fintech funding rounds of 2020 in Europe

Despite the global pandemic, over $2.36bn has been invested in the top five fundraises alone.

Last year was fairly chaotic when it came to fundraising, with many of the largest investors reigning in their spending in the first half of 2020.

However, follow-on rounds and a H2 surge helped to bolster the coffers of many European fintechs.

Indeed the five largest European fintech investment rounds on this list equate to a total of $2.36bn raised.

Here are the five largest fintech funding rounds of 2020:

1) Klarna raised $650m (September) and $200m (February)

A total of $850m was raised by buy-now-pay-later provider Klarna across two funding rounds in 2020.

The first $200m came from the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) in February as it looked to increase its stake in Klarna and fund the fintech’s expansion in Australia, leaving it as the 50 per cent owner of Klarna’s Australian and New Zealand arm.

The remaining $650m came in September in a funding round led by Silver Lake with financing from GIC, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, BlackRock and HMI Capital.

It made Klarna Europe’s highest-valued private fintech at a whopping $10.65bn.

2) Revolut raised $500m (February) and $80m (July)

Digital banking service Revolut made headlines back in February when it closed a $500m Series D funding round.

The round was led by TCV, a US-based investment firm, and several other unnamed, but existing, investors at a $5.5bn valuation.

Revolut followed this in July with an additional $80m raise, this time led by private equity group TSG Consumer Partners and taking the fintech’s total 2020 raise to $580m.

3. N26 raised $100m (May) as part of long-running Series D

So technically German digital challenger bank N26 started this funding round in 2019, with $470m raised across two funding announcements in January and July of that year.

However, the funds kept flowing, and in May 2020 N26 announced an additional $100m from existing investors including Insight Venture Partners, GIC, Tencent, Allianz X and Peter Thiel’s Valar Ventures. 

N26’s Series D went on for such a long time that its valuation increased from $2.7bn at the beginning of 2019 to $3.5bn by the end of the round in 2020, with a total of $570m raised.

4. Tink raised €90m (January) and €85m (December)

Yet another fintech with a funding round that went on and on.

Tink started the year in January by picking up €90m in equity funding from Dawn Capital, HMI Capital and PayPal, among others.

But the funding story wasn’t over yet, after completing three major acquisitions during 2020, including credit decisioning firm Instantor, account aggregation provider Eurobits and UK open banking provider OpenWrks, Tink doubled its earlier funding with an additional €85m raised in December.

In total, the Open Banking provider raised €175m across the course of 2020.

5. Checkout.com raised $150m (June)

Last but by no means least, French payment solution provider Checkout.com raised $150m in June as part of its Series B funding round.

The cash, which placed a valuation of $5.5bn on the fintech, came from investor Coatue, along with participation from existing investors, including Insight Partners, DST Global, Blossom Capital, and Singapore’s Sovereign Wealth Fund, GIC.