Participated · Equity · Mar 2024

PPRO is a London-based fintech that provides digital payment solutions to businesses and banks to scale local payment services through one connection. The company’s platform connects a global network of local payment methods and is used by partners including Stripe, PayPal and J.P. Morgan to accelerate roadmaps, boost conversions and reduce local-payments complexity. On 15 March 2024 PPRO completed a dual-tranche funding round totalling €85m. The funding was provided by new and existing investors. Named investors include Eurazeo, HPE Growth, Sprints, PayPal Ventures, J.P. Morgan, Citi Ventures and funds managed by BlackRock. PPRO says it will use the funds to pursue growth in key markets and further enhance its global network of local payment methods. PPRO offers a set of APIs that e-commerce companies integrate into check-outs to accept local payment methods and currencies, removing the need for customers to build complex integrations. Its platform packages localized gateway, processing and merchant acquirer services and is used by about 100 large global customers, including PayPal, Citi, Mastercard Payment Gateway Services, Mollie and Worldpay. The company processed $11 billion in payments in 2020, a 60% increase year‑over‑year, and was valued at over $1 billion after a January funding tranche. PPRO plans to expand its footprint, particularly in Latin America and Asia Pacific, as partners like JPMorgan look to use the platform to broaden payment services and support business banking clients. The business mixes primary and secondary capital in financings, reflecting strategic partnerships with banks and institutional investors. Leadership highlights continued demand for localized payments and mobile wallets as the prevailing consumer trend driving growth. PPRO builds payment infrastructure that lets customers accept whatever local payment methods consumers prefer, beyond basic cards, via APIs for gateway, processing and acquirer services. The company focuses solely on payments and partners with large payment players rather than expanding into adjacent banking services. It counts about 100 large global customers, including PayPal, Citi, Mastercard Payment Gateway Services, Mollie and Worldpay. PPRO doubled transaction volumes between Q4 2020 and Q4 2019 and is described in coverage as a profitable cross-border payments specialist. The company has been expanding geographically through M&A (it acquired allpago in 2019) and plans to grow further in Asian markets such as Singapore and Indonesia and across Latin America. PPRO is also investing in product areas around compliance and analytics to provide more value to customers. PPRO is a payments platform-as-a-service with operations in Singapore that helps partners accept locally preferred payment methods such as e-wallets, bank transfers, cash, and local cards. The company serves top-tier financial institutions, payment service providers, and their merchants, aiming to remove the complexity of domestic and cross-border payments. PPRO supports payment acceptance in more than 175 markets worldwide. Recently the company closed a USD 50 million financing round, reflecting active investor interest in its business. The round was led by Sprints Capital with participation from Citi Ventures and HPE Growth. No revenue or user metrics were disclosed in the article. PPRO provides a platform that lets merchants accept whatever payment methods are most popular in a given country, covering roughly 140 payment methods today. The company also issues physical and virtual Visa and MasterCard prepaid cards under the VIABUY brand and offers white-label card solutions. PPRO plans to add more countries and payment methods to its platform and has begun a commercial integration with PayPal’s Checkout with Smart Payment Button. The business is already profitable, employs around 200 people, and has raised only about $10.6 million since its 2006 founding. PPRO competes with larger payments companies such as Adyen and focuses on enabling merchants to reach customers in diverse local markets.

Participated · Series D · Mar 2022

Xempus is a Munich-based insurtech SaaS platform focused on digitising pensions and digital insurance distribution for insurers, agents, corporates, and employees. Its core product is a digital insurance distribution and pension management platform used by life insurers and insurance agents. Since March 2020 the company reports onboarding more than 15 life insurers and adding over 7,000 insurance agents, whose commissions have exceeded €200 million; it also says annual subscription revenue is positive and ARR more than doubled in 2021. The company plans to use new capital to further flesh out its product lineup and imminently launch a corporate health insurance service. Xempus intends to strengthen its market position in Germany while expanding to additional European outposts. The company recently raised $70 million in a Series D funding round to support those plans.

Participated · Series C · Sep 2021

Sendcloud is a cloud-based platform that aggregates e-commerce technology and carriers to let retailers search for, pick and automate shipping, checkout, tracking, returns and analytics. It integrates with over 50 platforms including Shopify, Magento, WooCommerce and Amazon, and supports more than 35 carriers such as DHL, UPS, FedEx and DPD. The company offers freemium tiers with paid plans at €40, €89 and €179 per month. Sendcloud serves 23,000 customers and reported pre-lockdown annual growth of 70–80%, which rose to about 120% during lockdown, with parcel volumes up 133%. The startup positions itself as an alternative to Amazon-level fulfillment by providing scalable, integrated shipping services and emphasizes capital efficiency. It plans to double down on its SaaS shipping-as-a-service product and use the new investment to scale, with new board additions from its lead investors to support growth. Sendcloud offers an all-in-one SaaS shipping platform that automates the entire e-commerce shipping flow from checkout to returns, including carrier selection and returns management. The company has evolved from a simple API into a platform used by more than 15,000 customers across the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Belgium, and Austria. Sendcloud says its solution turns logistics from a bottleneck into a competitive advantage for retailers of all sizes and industries. The business has grown rapidly: headcount rose from 120 to 260 in one year and the company plans to hire 200 more employees to support growth. Recent expansion efforts include entry into the UK and increased focus on integrating more local and global carriers. The new capital is intended to accelerate international expansion and further automation of the shipping platform. SendCloud is an Eindhoven-based scaleup offering an all-in-one shipping software that lets online retailers connect to carriers through a single interface. Its platform connects to Correos, Correos Express, GLS and 20 other global carriers and their various shipping methods without additional cost. The product streamlines shipping and returns, aiming to reduce costs, save time, and help smaller retailers meet higher consumer expectations. SendCloud positions its solution to level the playing field for SMEs against larger e-tailers, noting logistics can represent over 20% of e-commerce revenue on average. The company has launched in Spain to address recurring issues in the Spanish shipping market and to help Spanish online retailers compete internationally. SendCloud recently closed a multimillion-euro investment to support this expansion. SendCloud provides a shipping tool for e-commerce platforms to optimize shipping and returns processes. Its platform offers multiple shipping options at checkout, faster order processing, customer notifications and automatic processing of European returns. The company was founded in 2012 by CEO Rob van den Heuvel and is based in Eindhoven, The Netherlands. SendCloud currently has a team of 55 employees and more than 10,000 users. It is active in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, France and Austria and intends to use the new funding to further expand into Europe. SendCloud provides cloud-based shipping software that helps online stores ship goods at competitive rates. The platform integrates with carriers such as DHL, PostNL and UPS to optimize end-to-end shipping and offers plugins and tools to select cost-effective shipping options, print labels, and send parcels. The service is already in use in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany, and the company has an office in Munich. Led by CEO Rob van den Heuvel, SendCloud intends to use newly raised funds to expand into other European nations later in the year. The company raised €2m in funding from investors including TIIN Capital and the Brabant Development Agency (BOM). SendCloud was previously backed by Startupbootcamp, Sanoma Ventures and investment angels.

Participated · Equity · Feb 2021

EGYM is a Munich-based fitness technology and corporate wellness company led by CEO Philipp Roesch-Schlanderer. The company is vertically integrated and partners with employers and fitness facilities to improve employee health by providing access to facilities and equipping them with smart strength equipment and digital solutions. Its product suite includes tech-enabled hardware and software that deliver AI-driven workout experiences for users of all skill levels. EGYM operates the EGYM Wellpass corporate wellness network, which counts 17,000 sports partners, 14,000 corporate customers and more than three million eligible employees; around 18,000 fitness and health facilities use its products and services. In spring the company introduced EGYM Genius, an AI-based software that creates fully automated, personalized training plans tailored to each facility’s equipment. EGYM says it will use the new funding to expand its wellness network and further develop its digital solutions, smart strength equipment and other tech-enabled products. EGYM builds connected gym hardware, companion software (apps and diagnostics) and operates Wellpass, a corporate health network. Its product suite spans its own equipment plus software that works with other connected fitness machines. Wellpass has more than 2.5 million users and grew 100% in the reported period. The company reported $130 million in revenue in 2022, growing 70% year-over-year, and expects to double overall revenues to $260 million in 2023 while becoming profitable. Hardware now accounts for roughly 25% of revenues and about 16,000 gyms use EGYM products; 11,500 of those are part of the Wellpass network. EGYM is developing an AI-based personal trainer (not yet rolled out) and expects to further personalize its services over the next two years. EGYM builds connected smart sports equipment sold to fitness studios and other facilities, not to private customers. Its machines integrate with EGYM’s digital products and with third-party fitness wearables and cardio devices. Prior to the pandemic the company had raised over $100 million and was headed toward an IPO. The coronavirus crisis forced major cutbacks, including laying off 100 of its roughly 420 employees. To help it survive the lockdowns, EGYM has secured new funding of €28 million from existing backers. The company intends the capital to support operations through the pandemic-related disruptions. Founded in Munich in 2011, eGym builds both hardware and software: fully connected electronic strength machines, mobile apps for tracking fitness metrics, and the eGym One cloud platform. The cloud platform aggregates data from connected machines, wearables, apps, and other gadgets and is gym-supplier-agnostic, working with Life Fitness, Precor, and Matrix Fitness. While eGym does offer its own equipment, its platform integrates with third-party machines. Prior to this round the company had raised $60 million in equity and around $28 million in debt, and it acquired Netpulse last year. With the new funding, eGym plans to expedite international expansion aggressively, with a particular focus on the U.S. and the corporate health market. The company intends to leverage investor expertise to drive U.S. market entry and scale outcomes-focused fitness offerings. eGym builds cloud-connected strength machines plus companion cloud software and mobile apps for gym users and trainers, branded as the eGym Cloud. The system uses wristband recognition and workout data to deliver evolving, personalized training plans and immediate analytics to reduce member churn. Customers are gym operators such as Fitness First, Injoy and Reebok; eGym says 1,000 of Germany’s 6,000 gyms use its products since its 2012 launch. In the past two years the company expanded into more than half a dozen other European countries. eGym plans to use new capital for further international expansion and is eyeing a U.S. launch. The company is based in Munich and was founded in 2012.

Led · Series C · Apr 2020

Xpension operates an online corporate pension and life insurance SaaS platform (trading as xbAV) that connects life insurers, insurance agents and corporate and private customers. The company has onboarded more than 40 life insurers, 11,000 insurance agents and 3,000 SMEs to its platform. Xpension has launched a video platform for agents to speak to clients following the COVID-19 pandemic. The new funding will be used to scale the corporate pension and life insurance offering in Germany, expand into private pensions, life insurance and corporate health insurance, and prepare a rollout into other European countries. Martin Bockelmann is CEO and founder; Lars Hinrichs serves as active chairman and is the largest private shareholder. The company has raised more than €50 million in total funding to date.