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Neobank Deal Week: Qonto Confirms Buying Penta — Kontist Is Selling As Well At Discounted Price — Founder Interview

Updated: 1 day ago

This blog post first appeared first on old medium publication (https://medium.com/startuprad-io), and was moved to this blog with the relaunch of our website in summer 2024.

What Is This About?

In a single week, two major neobank deals reshaped the German fintech landscape: French unicorn Qonto confirmed its acquisition of Berlin-based Penta, while freelancer neobank Kontist sold at a steep discount for an estimated €10 million — highlighting the consolidation wave hitting European digital banking.

  • This blog post first appeared first on old medium publication (https://medium.

  • We published our blog post on July 15th that Qonto is rumored to be interested in buying Penta.

  • Kontist announced its sale within a week of the Penta deal, where Kontist is estimated to have been sold for around 10 m €, having raised more than 50 m US$ in debt and equity before.

  • There are many driving forces at work here, who made the deal possible.

  • Following these challenges, there is an increasingly challenging fundraising environment.

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Neobank Deal Week: Qonto Confirms Buying Penta — Kontist Is Selling As Well At Discounted Price — Founder Interview Startuprad.io brings you independent coverage of the key developments shaping the startup and venture capital landscape across Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

This blog post first appeared first on old medium publication (https://medium.com/startuprad-io), and was moved to this blog with the relaunch of our website in summer 2024.


We published our blog post on July 15th that Qonto is rumored to be interested in buying Penta. Just 7 days later Penta and Qonto confirmed the deal. Price estimates in the press are at “hundreds of millions”, where it may be fair to assume that the price will be below Penta’s target valuation of 500 m € at the start of their fundraising stated in February 2022, due to the current market conditions.


Kontist announced its sale within a week of the Penta deal, where Kontist is estimated to have been sold for around 10 m €, having raised more than 50 m US$ in debt and equity before.


Left to right: Lukas Zörner, Co-Founder Penta; Steve Anavi, Co-Founder Qonto; Markus Pertlwieser, CEO Penta; Alexandre Prot, Co-Founder Qonto (Source: Qonto/Penta)


Driving Forces

There are many driving forces at work here, who made the deal possible. One of them is the start of consolidations in the neobank market in Europe. The other one is the increasingly challenging business environment (think Ukraine, inflation, interest rates, supply chains,…) for the clients of Penta and Qonto, and so also for their business.

Following these challenges, there is an increasingly challenging fundraising environment. Especially the last point may play a major role here. Qonto had — maybe — the best possible timing with the announcement of their massive fundraising just before the private funding markets started to dry up in January 2022 (we covered it in our January News). Penta on the other hand was caught on the wrong foot with their timing.


Qonto drives market consolidation

Qonto is a well-funded unicorn, that started the cross-border consolidation in Europe in B2B neobanks and can be expected to be a driving force if the integration goes well. Consolidation in the European market is a step, that is necessary to get scale, grow fast, and get a critical mass for an eventual IPO. Qonto also has a great focus on customers, massively simplifying banking between different European countries. You can learn more about the in our interview with the Head of Germany at Qonto.

Penta is rumored to be not selling totally voluntarily, according to press reports in Germany. Penta was looking for money, after being bought by Finleap. They had to do this in an increasingly challenging fundraising environment, with an ambitious 500 m € valuation target.


Qonto takes a customer-centric approach

Qonto is also different, in that they coded their own core banking tool, which by itself was surely a massive project, that is surely still ongoing. This massive investment could also give them a massive advantage, being just a bit better than competitors, running on standard software (a tradeoff as old as modern banking). This holds true until it becomes dated. This happened to many other banks.

On the other hand, this also fits quite well with Penta, which has a pretty similar approach.


Looking ahead

So, the work for Penta and Qonto just starts, but what can we expect from this deal? As far as we know the following:

  • The Penta brand will disappear over time

  • Penta will migrate all of its data into the core banking system of Qonto

  • Penta will likely move away from Solarisbank, with most or even all of their services

  • Qonto will align the teams and processes of Penta to the best of their ability with Qonto’s standards

Depending on how ambitious Qonto’s plans are, the integration of Penta, — migration from Penta’s and Solarisbank’s systems to Qonto and reorganization of Penta’s processes — will be a sizeable project. On the other hand, Qonto would not have made such a deal, without having a plan on how to do this and how much to spend on it.


Kontist is Selling At Slahed Valuation

Berlin-based neobank Kontist — focused on freelancers — also announced yesterday that they are sold to Denmark-based Ageras. Ageras offers finance and accounting software. Coincidentally Kontist also offers finance and accounting services to their 50.000 customers. The article wrote about a “double digit” million price (Source).

We already mentioned above that Penat likely did not get its target valuation at half a billion euros. Now another blog hinted, that the price for Kontist has been slashed by around 75% compared to their last VC funding (Source).

Some background on the correction of the valuation. Kontist is almost exclusively active in Germany, but their parent company Kontist ApS is headquartered in Kopenhagen. The annual report of the parent company states for the end of 2021 that their German unit (Kontist GmbH) has been written down from a former valuation of 31,5 m Euros to only 8 m Euros (approx -75%).

Before the actual sale of the company, both founders bought out 90% of the equity stake in the German entity in June, from their former investors. Those investors included Lego CEO and billionaire Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen, as well as fellow billionaire Anders Povlsen, via their Company Builder Founders. Both funded the company for years and owned a majority stake before the management buyout.

Both values are actually surprising since Crunchbase shows 43,7 m US$ in equity investments (from pre-seed to series b) and two rounds of 9,5 m US$ in debt investments (both in 2021).

The actual sales price of Kontist is estimated to be around 10 m Euros. Both founders spoke to interested parties and this apparently drove the price up.

This is another sad end for a former award winner of the Fintech Germany Awards. Kontist was awarded the 2020 special award as a Covid-19 hero (Link to PM).


Importance of the deals (Consolidation)

The European market will surely pay attention to all news and rumors about the integration. Downturns are usually seeing more M&A activity, so these transactions could be just the start of well-funded neobanks taking over smaller rivals and other companies.

There is a lot of news alters created right now in consultancies and banks to track the Penta deal and its post-merger integration.

Updated on July 29th: Extension on Kontist and their slashed the valuation

What Happened in the Neobank Deal Week?

In a dramatic week for European business banking, French neobank Qonto confirmed its acquisition of Berlin-based Penta (first rumored July 15th), while competitor Kontist announced its own sale at a discounted price within the same week. The consolidation wave reflected the increasingly challenging fundraising environment for business banking startups in 2022.

Introduction

This episode covers a pivotal week of neobank consolidation in the European business banking space. After Startuprad.io published on July 15th that Qonto was rumored to be interested in acquiring Penta, the deal was confirmed. Within the same week, fellow business banking startup Kontist also announced its sale — reportedly at a discounted price. Multiple forces drove these deals, including the increasingly challenging fundraising environment that was making independent survival difficult for smaller neobanks competing against well-funded players.

The European business banking sector experienced a defining consolidation moment when two neobank acquisitions happened within the same week. Qonto, the French business banking platform, confirmed its purchase of Berlin-based Penta, adding German market presence to its European expansion. Simultaneously, Kontist sold at what was estimated to be a discounted price, signaling the pressure on smaller neobanks in the tightening funding environment. These deals reflected broader trends of fintech consolidation as the easy funding era ended and survival required scale.

  • Qonto confirmed its acquisition of Berlin-based Penta, expanding the French neobank's presence in the German business banking market.

  • Kontist announced its sale within the same week, reportedly at a discounted price, highlighting the pressure on smaller neobanks.

  • The dual acquisitions reflected the increasingly challenging fundraising environment pushing neobank consolidation in 2022.

  • Startuprad.io had first reported the Qonto-Penta rumor on July 15th before the deal was confirmed.

Entities Referenced in This Episode

Startups & Companies

  • Qonto — French business banking neobank, confirmed acquisition of Penta

  • Penta — Berlin-based business banking startup, acquired by Qonto

  • Kontist — Business banking startup, sold at discounted price

People

  • Jörn "Joe" Menninger — Startuprad.io host

Topics

  • Neobank consolidation, business banking M&A, fintech acquisitions, fundraising challenges, European fintech

Relationship Map

  • Qonto (France) → acquired → Penta (Berlin)

  • Kontist → sold at → discounted price (same week)

  • Challenging fundraising environment → drove → neobank consolidation

  • Startuprad.io → broke rumor → July 15th (Qonto-Penta)

Quote Highlights

  • On the deals: In a single week, two major neobank deals reshaped the German fintech landscape — French unicorn Qonto confirmed its acquisition of Berlin-based Penta, and Kontist announced its sale at a slashed valuation.

  • On Qonto’s strategy: Qonto is a well-funded unicorn that started cross-border consolidation in Europe’s B2B neobank market and can be expected to be a driving force if the integration goes well.

  • On Kontist’s valuation: The actual sales price of Kontist is estimated to be around 10 million Euros, having raised more than 50 million — a roughly 75% valuation slash.

  • On driving forces: Consolidation in the neobank market, an increasingly challenging business environment, and a difficult fundraising climate all contributed to these deals.

  • On Kontist’s founders: Before the sale, both founders bought out 90% of the equity stake in the German entity from their former investors, including Lego CEO and billionaire.

Related Episodes on Startuprad.io

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Did Qonto buy Penta?

Yes, Qonto confirmed its acquisition of Berlin-based Penta. The deal was first rumored on July 15th and gave the French neobank a stronger foothold in the German business banking market.

What happened to Kontist?

Kontist announced its sale within the same week as the Penta-Qonto deal. The business banking startup reportedly sold at a discounted price, reflecting the challenging conditions for smaller neobanks in 2022.

Why were neobanks consolidating in 2022?

The increasingly challenging fundraising environment made it difficult for smaller neobanks to compete independently. Multiple forces drove the consolidation, including the need for scale, rising customer acquisition costs, and tightening venture capital markets.

About the Host

Joern "Joe" Menninger is the host of the Startuprad.io podcast and covers founders, investors, and policy developments across the DACH startup ecosystem. Through more than 1,300 interviews and nearly a decade of reporting, he documents the evolution of the European startup landscape. Follow Joern on LinkedIn.

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Companies building in fintech and digital banking use Startuprad.io to reach founders, operators, and decision-makers across the DACH ecosystem. If that fits your goals, explore partnerships here: Partner with Startuprad.io

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