Satispay to close EUR 50m financing round by year-end, considers listing in 2022 – CEO
22 October 2019
Italian payment-app operator Satispay expects to close a EUR 50m financing round by year-end and could consider listing in 2022, co-founder and CEO Alberto Dalmasso told Mergermarket.
Satispay has been trying to attract international investors to the ongoing EUR 50m round, as it wants to accelerate international expansion, starting with Germany, Dalmasso said. Suitors are expected to be a mix of strategics, banks, venture capital and private equity, he said, declining to name them.
While Dalmasso declined to provide the company’s pre-money valuation, it was reported to be more than EUR 100m ahead of its most recent funding round last year. Satispay will end 2019 with EUR 17m revenue, he said, compared to EUR 3m in 2017.
Satispay completed a EUR 15m capital increase in September 2018, with participation from investors including Endeavor Catalyst, Greyhound Capital, Banca Valsabbina, Sparkasse, the Turin Investors’ Club, Iccrea Banca and Banca di Piacenza, as reported.
Management is also eyeing a stock exchange listing as a further step to raise growth capital, Dalmasso said. It could list in 2022 on the Borsa Italiana’s main platform or an international exchange, he said, although it will not consider the AIM board, due to its low liquidity and high volatility.
Dalmasso named Dutch Adyen, a EUR 18bn market-cap payment company, as a peer active in the European market and potential comparable. He also pointed to Chinese online payment service providers Alipay and Wechat Pay, and Indian e-commerce payment system group PayTM, as companies featuring similar business models to Satispay’s.
He declined to say whether the company is planning to raise capital in the interim, but said that selling equity will be the its preferred fundraising option going forward, rather than tapping debt.
Satispay expects to use fresh capital to enlarge its product offering, he said, to expand in Europe and the US, and to launch third-party car insurance policies. To date, it has raised EUR 42m funding, as reported.
The company does not expect to pursue M&A for the time being, as it would not provide not value for money, and prefers to concentrate instead on its organic growth plans, Dalmasso said.
Established in 2015 by Dalmasso, CTO Dario Brignone and COO Samuele Pinta, Satispay is headquartered in Milan and has an office in London.
