France-based online lending platform developer Younited Credit secured $170m today in a funding round featuring insurance firm AG2R La Mondiale.
The round included Goldman Sachs Asset Management, the asset management arm of investment bank Goldman Sachs, which participated through its growth equity unit, as well as private equity firms Bridgepoint and Eurazeo, and French government-owned investment bank BPIfrance’s Large Venture Fund.
Founded in 2011 as Prêt d’Union, Younited offers amortising personal loans of up to €50,000 ($59,000) through an artificial intelligence and machine learning-powered software platform as well as extended payment services, budget coaching and term deposits.
The company has granted over $3bn in loans to date and also provides banking-as-a-service software for banks, insurance companies, telecomminications operators, online merchants and technology companies.
This round brings the overall funding raised by Younited to $400m, it said. The capital will be used to strengthen its market position in France and accelerate expansion across Europe, primarily in Italy, Spain, Portugal and Germany – four countries which currently represent about 40% of its revenue.
The proceeds will also be used to boost product innovation and development, expand the company’s [business-to-business]and personal finance offering and launch Younited Pay, a payment platform dedicated to European retailers and online merchants.
In addition, the company plans to scale up its team – currently composed of 440 staff based across its offices in Paris, Rome, Barcelona and Munich – by hiring 200 people by the end of 2022.
Younited had previously raised $47.8m in a 2017 round backed by AG2R La Mondiale and its peer Matmut, which invested through its Matmut Innovation unit.
The 2017 round was filled out by financial services firm Crédit Mutuel Arkéa, BPIfrance’s Large Venture Fund, Weber Investissements, Eurazeo and Zencap Asset Management.
The company had secured $34m in a 2015 series D round led by Eurazeo and backed by AG2R La Mondiale, media company Schibsted, Crédit Mutuel Arkéa, Weber Investissements and private investor Pierre Kosciusko-Morizet.
AG2R La Mondiale had previously contributed to a $13.5m series C round closed by the company in 2013 that included Crédit Mutuel Arkea, Weber Investissements and Kima Ventures.
Charles Egly, co-founder and chief executive of Younited, said: “This new, significant equity round will allow us to invest heavily towards a more disruptive technology and data-driven product for the benefit of our clients and partners as we accelerate innovation.”