Scalapay raises €131 million to fuel international expansion

By

Matthieu Guinebault

Translated by
Nicola Mira

Published
Sep 13, 2021

Italian ‘buy now, pay later’ specialist Scalapay has completed a funding round worth €131 million ($150 million), that will enable the company to bolster its personnel growth and international expansion plans.

Since Scalapay was set up in 2019, the instalment payment specialist led by Simone Mancini, Johnny Mitrevski, Raffaele Terrone, Daniele Tessari and Mirco Mattevi has raised funds for $203 million. The latest funding round was carried out by Tiger Global with the participation of Baleen Capital and Woodson Capital, which have joined existing investors Fasanara Capital and Ithaca Investments.

Since January, Scalapay has already doubled the number of its employees, now over 150, and intends to use the funds to expand both its staff and business operations. It notably wants to increase the number of countries it operates in, which currently are Italy, France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Finland, Belgium, the Netherlands and Austria.

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Scalapay is also keen to launch new products targeted to luxury and fashion retail, and the travel sector. Over 3,000 fashion brands have already partnered with Scalapay, among them Calzedonia, Moschino, Alberta Ferretti, Piquadro, Gérard Darel, Liu Jo, Intimissimi and Lollipops. Scalapay staggers their customers’ payments in three instalments at no extra cost, claiming that this boosts average shopping basket value by 48%, with a conversion rate increase of 11%.

“We give customers the chance to enjoy life's little pleasures, without having to systematically compromise to buy a perfume, a dress or a romantic week-end,” said CEO Simone Mancini, who claims he wants to open up the BNPL (buy now, pay later) sector to la dolce vita. Francesco Filia, CEO of Fasanara Capital, said that “while [competitors] like Klarna and Afterpay have introduced deposit accounts and are edging closer to a banking environment, Scalapay’s exciting road-map is more oriented towards helping retailers.”

Scalapay, which in spring appointed Pingki Houang, a former director at ShowroomPrivé, Stuart, Fnac and FashionCube (owner among others of Jule, Brice and Rouge-Gorge) as general manager, said that it detected a high level of demand for fashion and luxury items last year. Surely an opportunity for Scalapay, which claims a leadership position in southern Europe, but is keen to expand its reach further.