French Startup Swan has raised another €42 million. The company considers this round to be the second part of the Series B round that was originally announced in September 2024.
Swan helps other companies offer financial products at scale. The company can generate virtual and physical cards that work with Apple Pay and Google Pay. Cards can be programmatically set up by Swan corporate clients with spending limits, authorized merchants, and others.
You can also create payment accounts with an individual Iban. This way, the accounts support payments, payments and even SEPA direct debits. These accounts can be used as a source of money for payment cards.
Several fast-growing companies have chosen Swan as their integrated banking partner. For example, Pennylane, a French accounting startup that became a unicorn last year, now offers accounts and payment cards to its customers and relies on Swan for those features.
Similarly, Indy, an all-in-one administrative assistant for freelancers, turned to Swan to add accounts and cards to its offerings. Other clients include Agicap, Factorial, Lucca and Sesame.
Overall, Swan works with 150 businesses and processes €1.5 billion in transactions monthly.
Ocho Road Ventures leads the second tranche with existing investors Lakestar, Accel, Creandum, Hexa and Bpifrance participating again; Bpifrance originally invested in Swan’s seed round through its digital venture fund.
“We believe the embedded finance opportunity is immense, and that banking services will increasingly be offered directly where users are, within existing workflows and flows. We have known Nicolas and his team since their early days and have been consistently impressed by their rapid progress, tier-one customer base and successful international expansion,” Eight Roads Ventures partner Lucile Cornet said in a statement.
While the company isn’t disclosing its valuation, Swan co-founder and CEO Nicolas Benady said it’s higher than it used to be. “We’re not a unicorn yet, so we don’t mention it,” he said.
While many FinTech startups are building products on top of other FinTech APIs and products, Swan has built its own core banking system. That’s why it can offer local IBans and add country-specific payment products.
As for Swan’s clients, having the option to handle money without handling the money directly is an interesting opportunity. Swan handles compliance and KYC (“Know Your Customer”) obligations. With Thursday’s funding round, Swan will continue to expand into more countries, with Italy next on the roadmap.
