Younited raises $170 mn in funding by Goldman Sachs and Bridgepoint

By Joy Dumasia

Younited, a Paris-based credit and payment platform, has raised $170 million in a funding round joined by Goldman Sachs and Bridgepoint. Funds raised will be used to consolidate Younited’s presence on the European market in France, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Germany, the latter four countries already representing 40% of Younited’s revenues.

Younited Credit differentiates itself from legacy players with a data-driven, AI-based approach; Younited Credit tries to automate request processes as much as possible. The company takes advantage of DSP2 regulation and open-banking APIs to ingest data. As the startup has facilitated a huge volume of credit offerings, it can also leverage past data for machine-learning risk models.

The company started embedding its product into third-party products. For instance, banks and FinTech companies offer credit products in their apps thanks to partnerships with Younited Credit. Examples include N26, Lydia, Orange Bank and Fortuneo. In 2021, the B2B offering represented 30% of Younited Credit’s net banking income.

The new funding will be used to build the partner network, launch a staged payment product that lets firms offer customers the option to spread payments over three to 48 months, and hire 200 staffers.

Charles Egly, co-founder and CEO 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. More specifically, we are delighted to welcome Goldman Sachs and Bridgepoint, two renowned shareholders who, thanks to their deep financial and tech expertise, and alongside our historical shareholders, will help us to grow Younited into a global technological leader in the lending and payment sector.”

Recently, IBS Intelligence reported that Goldman Sachs today announced Transaction Banking (TxB) in the UK. Since launching in the US last June, the company stated that it had attracted more than 250 clients, taking on over $35 billion in deposits and processing trillions of dollars through its systems.