US VC Tiger Global just turned Scalapay, a BNPL from Wollongong, into a unicorn fintech with a $210 million series A

Australia has a new unicorn fintech after Tiger Global led a $210 Series A round into European-focused payments fintech Scalapay.

Baleen Capital and Woodson Capital also came aboard as new investors alongside existing backers Fasanara Capital and Ithaca Investments.

Scalapay was founded just two years ago by Australians Simone Mancini and Johnny Mitrevski. Its buy now and pay later (BNPL) product targets Southern Europe, operating in Italy, France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Finland, Belgium, Netherlands and Austria.

The company now valued at more than $1 billion, having raised $277 million, including a seed round in January this year.

While many of Scalapay’s more than 150 people are in offices in Milan, Paris, Munich and Dublin, the core tech team based in Wollongong, under Mitrevski as Chief Technology Officer.

This new funding will go towards Scalapay’s growing team and operations. In July, the fintech installed former FashionCube CEO Pingki Houang as GM, with former Just East head of global operations Arlene Reynolds charged with overseeing Scalapay’s operations and country expansion.

Mitrevski said the pace of the company’s product development “has really been incredible” since launching in 2019.

“In two years, we’ve launched and localised Scalapay across six countries, integrated with 3,000 merchants, launched Scalapay in-store with over 2,000 physical retailers, launched an App as well as partnering and integrating with two European banks,” he said.

“The team is very excited about what’s coming next and some of the new products we are developing.”

Mitrevski said the series A was another demonstration that Australian fintech is making a mark globally.

“I believe that, because of our strong financial and banking culture, Australia does fintech better than most,” he said.

Fasanara Capital CEO Francesco Filia said Scalapay was leveraging BNPL in an entirely new way.

“While the likes of Klarna and Afterpay have launched deposit accounts and moved further into the banking space, Scalapay’s exciting roadmap is laser focused on helping merchants with new customer experiences that increase conversion,” he said.

Tiger Global partner Alex Cook said the Australian fintech has become an important player in European payments and the BNPL sector with rapid speed.

“We are impressed by their product development pipeline and strong focus on merchant success. We are excited to support Scalapay in the next phase of its growth,” he said.

Mitrevski’s European-based co-founder and Scalapay’s CEO Simone Mancini said: “We are just getting started, there is so much that we can do to further support merchants in delivering amazing experiences to customers.”

The business expects to recruit another 80 developers, product managers and designers over the next 12 months.