Barcelona fintechs: three recent invests and news
3 innovation and digital news in 1 minute. Every Monday. Episode 417.
SeQura — massive funding for “Spanish Klarna”.
SeQura (founded 2013 in Barcelona) is Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL), like Klarna. Leading in Spain, more than 5,000 merchants and over 2m users. Flexible payments like split into 3 payments, instalment payments, pay 7 days after receiving order. Embedded into merchants checkout flow. Opinion: BNPL, a classic approach to help retailers boost sales conversion and customer retention. SeQura is strong in Spain with merchants like Iberia and Carrefour. Massive €410m funding from Citi Bank in November 2024, could be a sign of ambition beyond Spain.
Really, the Klarna of Spain.
Payflow — salary-on-demand.
Payflow is a Barcelona-based fintech offering employees real-time access to earned wages before payday. Companies integrate Payflow into payroll system, employees use the app to withdraw portions of already earned wages before the end of the month. Also offers AI tools for analysing cashflow, extracting and consolidating data and anticipating liquidity challenges. Opinion: “Salary-on-demand”, a concept that offers financial flexibility for employees. Payflow is not the only one doing it, competitor Wagestream from London has gathered $164m VC funding for it. Payflow with $42m funding (latest funding in 2024), Spanish bank BBVA and Y Combinator are among the investors.
Receive salary before payday, great flexibility for employees.
Spain is important for Revolut — ATMs + 2 more announcements.
In December, Revolut celebrated 50m customers, 4m of them in Spain. Announced major projects for 2025, one of them being own branded ATMs. Additionally to dispensing cash, these ATMs dispense new Revolut debit cards (account sign-up). Increased security through facial recognition. ATMs are rolling out in Spain, starting in Barcelona in early 2025. Opinion: A digital bank with own ATMs, unusual but a great move, also to draw new customers by offering account sign-up and instant debit card on the ATM machine. Smart, in a country with many international tourists, instant European bank account and debit card. Barcelona is the Spanish hub for Revolut, with ATM roll-outs starting here and annoucement of a new major hub office in Barcelona.
Spain is an important country for Revolut.
