Diamonds are a bank’s best friend: Swarovski reportedly joins in on latest N26 raise

Digital challenger bank N26 has closed its latest funding round, according to German publication Finance Forward.

The digital bank has reportedly inked a €30m deal with both new and existing investors.

Most of the funding comes from long-time investor VC firm Earlybird and the family behind jewellery powerhouse Swarovski invested in the bank for the first time through its subsidiary, asset manager Crystalon Finanz AG.

According to the commercial register (the German equivalent of Companies House here in the UK) N26 recently underwent a capital increase of 1.15 per cent, meaning that the cash raised will be around the €30m mark based on N26’s previous valuation of $3.5bn.

A spokesperson for the bank confirmed to AltFi that the fresh capital was not a new fundraising effort, rather it was another extension of the bank’s massive Series D raise. 

Since 2019, N26 has raised roughly $600m, the lion’s share of which comes from a massive $570m Series D, which the bank has now extended three times, the bank previously added another $100m in May 2020.

N26 has also recently brought a new CFO on board, with Maximilian Tayenthal being promoted to co-CEO’s role with fellow co-founder Valentin Stalf.

Dr Jan Kemper, the former CFO of e-commerce platform Zalando, stepped into the role to help N26 work towards its inevitable IPO.

The digital bank has also solidified its international expansion plans, securing its Brazilian banking licence earlier this year to take on native challenger bank Nubank.

As a result of its costly international expansion plans, N26 also saw losses for 2019 and 2020 reach a whopping €165m and €110m respectively.

According to the bank, it’s launch in Brazil cost €25m, while its failed UK expansion plans cost nearly €27m.