Money 20/20: European platform Qonto eyes further acquisitions

Qonto – the banking and finance platform for SMEs and accountants – is seeking subsequent acquisitions, following its takeover of Regate earlier this year.

Speaking at Money 20/20 Europe in Amsterdam, Alexandre Prot, CEO and co-founder of the business (pictured, right) said the company would be looking to acquire more businesses in the coming years to support organic growth and expansion through industry partnerships.

“We are definitely interested in doing more acquisitions in the next few years along two dimensions – geographical expansion and product expansion,” he said.

“We are interested in doing more, but it takes two to tango, so we need to find the right partner and timing is also important of course.”

Prot said that Qonto’s ambitions are very much in step with a market which he believes is “ripe for some consolidation.”

Speaking on the recent takeover of accounting automation group Regate earlier this year, he said the integration of this business has been slightly different to the approach adopted after the acquisition of Penta, due to the different customer profile of that business unit.

“It is a slightly new product for us, and a new channel. The way we have structured the transaction is so that Regate is a business unit within Qonto, so it is slightly separate and automous albeit with some links.

“We want to make the most of their expertise and what they have built, using their product and knowledge of the accounting world.”

The entrepreneur said acquisitive businesses must feel they have a significant chance of making deals a success.

“Buying a company is easy but making a successful integration is the hard part. M&A will be a good catalyst for strategy and for our growth plan, but it is one piece. We will focus much more on building and on organic growth as well as partnerships.

“Good partnerships and good integrations can make a lot of sense. We want to do much more on partnerships. That is a big focus for us in the next couple of years.”

Pictured (L-R): Zachary Anderson Pettet, VP of Money 20/20 and Alexandre Prot, co-founder of Qonto