Qonto completes the fastest-ever €5m fundraise on Crowdcube

French fintech unicorn Qonto has raised €5m during a crowdfunding campaign that lasted just 6.5 hours.  

More than 1,800 of the company's customers participated in the campaign, which launched on 20 April, and the capital raised is to be used in conjunction with Qonto’s series D financing – to accelerate the company’s growth by investing in product, customer service and attracting talent.

The company says its ambition is “become the finance solution of choice for 1 million European SMEs and freelancers by 2025”.

“As a company created by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs, we are delighted that so many of our customers share and understand the value of our service and our company mission,” says Alexandre Prot, Co-Founder, and CEO of Qonto.

“These new shareholders will help us shape our product while contributing to our success alongside our existing investors. We are very excited to be the first European unicorn to invite our community to become shareholders, and proud that so many have taken part.” 

Qonto says it initially opened the campaign with the goal of raising €1m from its customers, strengthening its relationship with them, and building a European entrepreneurs community committed to supporting its mission – but quickly exceeded this sum.

Launched in 2017, Qonto serves more than 220,000 clients in France, Germany, Italy and Spain and employs over 600 staff across Paris, Berlin, Milan and Barcelona. The company provides business finance and banking services to SMEs and freelancers in Europe. Aside from this latest fundraising, the company is backed by investors including the European Investment Bank, Tencent and Tiger Global.