Fintech startup SlimPay has raised €15 Million from Prime Ventures, an investment firm with close ties to Ingenico subsidiary Global Collect, the company announced this week. SlimPay currently has 35 employees, 2,000 clients, and processed €2.4 Billion in direct debit payments in 2014.
Why eMerchants should choose Direct Debit for debit card
The Fintech space can be a bit complicated to explain – we had SlimPay join us at the spring edition of the Paris Founders Event to shed light on why direct debit is so important. Direct debit is an alternative to accepting someone’s debit/credit card information by providing your bank account details. The authorization for payment doesn’t go through your card, which means you don’t have to worry about 1) someone hitting the limit on their debit card weekly/monthly allocation 2) card expiration. Debit card expiration is a big source of churn for online merchants, as it’s an opportunity for customers to rethink their subscription, with the default action of doing nothing resulting in their discontinuation of the service.
SlimPay, of course, isn’t the only player in the market; notably, London-based GoCardless, which raised $7 Million from Balderton Capital last year, is increasingly pushing into the European market. Despite having lost 2 of its 4 founders, GoCardless has the support of many big-name investors in London (Accel Partners, Balderton Capital, Passion Capital) and in the US (Y Combinator), while SlimPay’s activity is relatively… French for the moment.
Nonetheless, Slimpay’s recent hire of Mention’s Co-Founder & former CEO Edouard de la Jonquiere as their CMO should provide a much-needed boost to SlimPay’s presence among SaaS startups, a sector where Edouard has been very present across Europe.
One thing is sure: there is a FinTech revolution going on in France right now. Between MangoPay, Prêt d’Union, SlimPay, Lydia & all the other fintech startups raising big rounds, it looks like France’s startups are posed to take a bite out of the big banking industry in France and in Europe.