France-based peer-to-peer payment platform Lydia closed a €40m ($44.5m) series B round on Wednesday that was led by internet group Tencent.
Insurance provider CNP Assurances contributed to the round through its corporate venturing fund, Open CNF. It also featured XAnge, the venture capital unit of private equity firm Siparex Sigefi, and New Alpha Asset Management, which is owned by asset manager La Française.
Founded in 2013, Lydia has built an app that enables customers to make retail purchases using QR codes, send money to their contacts, monitor their bank accounts, set up recurring payments and create savings pots.
The company also offers a payment card that links to all of the user’s chosen bank accounts, and provides dynamically generated virtual cards. It is working on adding full-fledged current and joint accounts to its offering.
Lydia has more than 3 million users in France and the series B capital will enable it to expand across Europe and scale its platform.
Tencent investment director Ma Danying said: “We are glad to support Lydia’s vision in driving the cashless evolution in Europe. With its engaged user base and execution capability, we are confident that the company will capture the opportunities and become a European leader in mobile financial services.”
CNP Assurances previously led a $16.1m funding round for the company in early 2018 that included financial services group Oddo BHF, XAnge, New Alpha and family office Groupe Duval.
New Alpha and Oddo BHF, then known as Oddo & Cie, had provided $7.8m in funding for Lydia in 2016. XAnge, Duval and Belcube had already injected $4.5m in late 2014, adding to $820,000 secured from unnamed investors earlier the same year.
Image courtesy of Lydia.
