Italian postal service invests $37 million in fintech unicorn Scalapay

Merchant-focused buy-now pay-later (BNPL) provider Scalapay has raised a further $37.25 million as part of a Series B extension round backed by the Italian postal service which funded the entire investment.

The additional funding follows February's initial Series B round, when the Australian-founded, Milan-based company secured $692 million and became a unicorn in the process, with that capital to go towards acquisitions and workforce expansion.

February’s Series B round was led by Chinese tech heavyweight and WeChat owner Tencent and New York-based Willoughby Capital. It also involved previous backers Tiger Global and Fasanara Capital, plus new investors Gangwal Capital, Deimos Capital and Moore Capital.

Combined with the Tiger Global-led $155 million Series A round, Scalapay's Series B extension brings the company's total funding to date to US$727 million (AUD$1.03 billion).

With 35 million customers, the 65 per cent government-owned Italian post service (known as Poste Italiane) provides postal, financial, insurance, payments, telco, and digital services to households, businesses, and public administrations.

Poste Italiane is one of the largest payment card issuers in Europe and, through its wholly-owned subsidiary PostePay, boasts a substantial digital ecosystem including 9 million digital wallets and 29 million payment cards.

Scalapay says the additional funding will go towards the continued expansion and development of Scalapay’s team, product development, and brand building. There are also plans to expand its executive team and board.

The company's innovative payment solution for e-commerce merchants allows customers to BNPL without interest. Customers are offered three options - to pay in three or four instalments or entirely after 14 days.

Scalapay, which differentiates itself from other BNPL businesses through its focus on merchants, also recently launched a new checkout platform called Magic - developed as a solution to a merchant pain-point identified by the fintech's team – which effectively cuts out the clunkiness on the customer side.

The company is currently present in the markets of Italy, Germany, France, Spain, Portugal, Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands and Finland. Scalapay currently works with major international merchants and retailers including Shein, Decathlon, Calzedonia, Morgandetoi (Beaumanoir Group), Swappie, Moschino, Don't Call Me Jennifer, Samsonite, Nike, and Pandora, among others.