BERLIN, July 18 (Xinhua) -- Investors of the German N26 digital bank had increased their funding by 170 million U.S. dollars to a total of 470 million U.S. dollars, the German fintec headquartered here announced on Thursday.
With the new funds, N26, which just entered the U.S. market last week, is now valued at 3.5 billion U.S. dollars, "making it the highest valued German startup," according to N26.
"Once again, our investors have placed their trust in us. This will allow us to accelerate our global expansion. The further increase in valuation is a great testament to the company's development over the last months," said N26 co-founder Maximilian Tayenthal.
In total, N26 has raised more than 670 million U.S. dollars and "now also ranks among the most valuable European startups and the top ten of the most valuable FinTechs worldwide," according to N26.
Investors include Insight Venture Partners, Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC, China's Tencent, Allianz X, Valar Ventures, Earlybird Venture Capital and Greyhound Capital. The funds would be used to drive N26's international expansion, grow the team and drive product innovation.
N26 also announced its intention to "continue its heavy investment in organizational and structural growth." Within the last 12 months, the German digital bank has tripled its workforce to more than 1,300 employees.
"The notion that the best consumer startups are all born in Silicon Valley is increasingly outdated. N26 is a prime example of digital innovation moving in the opposite direction, from Europe to the U.S. and beyond," said James Fitzgerald, general partner at Valar Ventures.
Since its launch in January 2015, N26 has acquired more than 3.5 million customers in 24 European markets and has executed 16 million transactions per month. The German fintech has announced its plan to launch in Brazil next year. Its aim is to "reach over 50 million customers worldwide in the coming years," said the bank.
