N26, a neobank that has about 200,000 Irish customers, has raised more than $900 million (€776.9 million) in a Series E funding round that values it at over $9 billion.
The investment is the largest financing round to date for a digital bank in Europe.
Berlin-based N26 said it intends to use the new funding to add 1,000 employees, most of which will be focusing on product, technology and cybersecurity.
The company, whose chief operating officer is Dubliner Adrienne Gormley, launched services in Ireland in December 2015. It has more than seven million customers in 25 markets, and has over 1,500 staff.
A spokesperson for N26 said on Monday that Dublin has “ a tremendously exciting tech scene, which we believe is on par with the huge tech scene in Berlin too, where N26 is headquartered. We have over 85 nationalities working in our organisation and among those, the Irish are in the top 10 highest represented.
“Whilst we wouldn’t rule out having feet on the ground in Ireland, the savings we are able to provide to the customer (including offering free accounts) by keeping our operations centralised and customer service fully digital is huge. That said, we are in the middle of rolling out a new remote-working policy that will offer added flexibility to talent all across the continent, and we hope to welcome more of Dublin’s tech talent to our team soon.”
Overall, N26 has raised close to $1.8 billion from investors since it was founded by Valentin Stalf and Maximilian Tayenthal in 2013.
“This recent financing round solidifies the fact that retail banking as we know it has changed. With our fresh capital, we are in pole position to become one of the biggest retail banks in Europe, all without a single branch,” said Mr Stalf.
The latest investment was led by New York-based tech investors Third Point Ventures and Coatue Management, and joined by Dragoneer Investment Group as well as N26's existing investors. The bank was also supported by Goldman Sachs Bank Europe who acted as a placement agent for the round.
In tandem with the funding announcement, N26 said it has agreed with the German regulator to temporarily on board a maximum of 50,000 - 70,000 customers per month, meaning that some people looking to open new accounts may find themselves being placed on waiting lists.
It also said it will significantly expand its employee equity pool, while broadening Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) participation to 100 per cent of employees.
N26 provides free and subscription-based banking accounts which also provide a number of money-management features. It recently announced plans to expand into offering insurance products, allowing customers to purchase coverage, manage plans and initiate claims from different providers from within its mobile app.
