Spendesk Raises $113M, Reaches Unicorn Status

The Paris-based payments company Spendesk announced it has raised 100 million euros ($113 million), bringing it to unicorn status with a value of more than $1 billion.

Spendesk is the fifth French company so far this year to become a unicorn.

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The fundraising is an extension of its Series C round last July at the same amount. This latest investment comes from Tiger Global, the New York-based venture capital firm that specializes in internet, software, consumer and FinTech sectors. Existing investors, including eFounders, General Atlantic, Eight Roads Ventures and Index Ventures, also participated.

Founded in 2016, the French FinTech company said it has seen strong growth during the pandemic and more than doubled its revenue annually. Last year, more than 3 billion euros ($3.4 billion) was managed on its network, the company added.

The platform includes corporate cards, budgets, invoice payments, expense reimbursements, approval, reporting, compliance and pre-accounting in what it calls a simple, scalable solution.

Spendesk plans to use the cash to hire 300 employees in 2022.

“Bringing in the best and brightest people is my top priority right now,” said Spendesk’s CEO and co-founder Rodolphe Ardant in a statement. “We’ll need to build and bolster our talent bench in all departments to help us achieve our ambitious goals for next year.”

With offices in London, Paris, San Francisco, Berlin and Hamburg, Germany, the company added 100 workers last year.

The investment in Spendesk is the latest European company to cash in on venture capital.

Recent data from Pitchbook revealed that European venture capital valuations continue to gain traction in 2021. The average angel and seed pre-money valuation in the third quarter stood at 3.8 million euros ($4.3 million) during that period, a 22.5% increase from the record set in 2020.

Read more: Europe VC Ecosystem Smashes Records In Q3 2021, Setting The Stage For Promising 2022 Deals