Qonto Expands Offering of In-House, Short-Term Financing for Small Enterprises

Qonto has expanded its business finance solutions for freelancers and small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) to include its first in-house financing option, “Pay Later.”

According to a press release issued by the company on Tuesday, March 26, the new Pay Later is a short-term financing, or buy now, pay later (BNPL), offer that provides qualified customers in Qonto’s four markets—France, Germany, Italy, and Spain—with instant access to funds of up to €10,000.

According to the release, the financing has a monthly interest rate of 1.17%, a repayment period that starts 30 days after the invoice purchase, and it must be paid back in three installments over a total of 90 days.

Alexandre Prot, CEO and co-founder of Qonto, stated in the release that “the launch of Pay later brings us one significant step closer to our goal of becoming the business finance solution of choice for 1 million European [SMBs] and freelancers by the end of 2025.”

According to the release, this short-term financing offer complements Qonto, the company’s 2023 financing platform, which up until now has only used partnerships to provide financing to its clients.

According to the release, Qonto’s customers now have access to a variety of financing options with Pay Later, which can provide sums of up to €10 million.

According to the announcement, Qonto’s web and mobile apps provide access to all of these solutions.

“Our goal is to offer European [SMBs] and freelancers everything they need to seamlessly manage their business finances, from an online business account to invoicing, bookkeeping, spend management, and, of course, financing,” Prot said in the release. “There is a real need for financing among European businesses, and we’re proud to offer a comprehensive solution with Pay Later and our financing platform.”

According to Prot in an interview published in February 2022, Qonto was established in 2016 to help business banking for entrepreneurs and solopreneurs in Europe who are frequently disregarded by traditional lenders.

On March 7, the company announced that it would buy the French FinTech startup Regate to incorporate its financial tools and accounting firm-specific product into its own line of SMB banking solutions. According to Qonto at the time, integrating the two businesses’ solutions would simplify the data exchange between SMBs and their accountants.