PayCar Gets Investment From BNP Paribas

PayCar, a FinTech startup created to purchase used cars, has received a round of venture funding, which included BNP Paribas as a participant.

According to a report, the round of funding totaled €1.3 million. PayCar comes out of BNP Paribas’ accelerator and incubation unit, L’Atelier. PayCar provides a platform for the sale of used cars between private individuals. The person buying the car credits his or her PayCar account, and once the deal closes, the agreed-upon price immediately is transferred from the PayCar account to the seller by using a smartphone.

As part of the fundraising, BNP Paribas purchased a minority stake in PayCar. PayCar will use the funding to grow the company. PayCar also gets expertise from BNP Paribas when developing products, noted the report.

“For over three years now, BNP Paribas has been engaged in a process of Open Innovation in both Europe and the USA to develop FinTech incubation and acceleration ecosystems designed to support the Group’s transition towards building the digital bank of the future,” said Jacques d’Estais, group deputy COO and head of international financial services, in the report. “Our collaboration with PayCar is a perfect illustration of this. Our investment has twin objectives: to enable PayCar to develop its commercial potential and to help us prepare for the digitization of bank checks.”

For some time now, BNP Paribas has been getting serious about its focus on technology. In January, reports emerged that the bank named Rudi Collin as chief digital officer for its corporate banking operations. It’s a new role, according to reports, designed to improve its adoption and integration of banking technologies. “Rudi will be in charge of accelerating, managing and monitoring the digital transformation of CIB [corporate and institutional banking] and will harmonize technology platforms across the bank,” the company said in a statement.

Reports said BNP Paribas’ move is part of a broader effort among the world’s banks to increase automation through data, technology and other innovative tools. According to BNP Paribas, Collin will oversee the creation of a platform that will allow a “corporate treasurer, for example, to log in just once to gain access to all relevant tools, from cash management applications to foreign exchange hedging tools.”