Lydia Raises $45 Million From a Funding Round Led by Tencent

Lydia, one of the emerging payment startups in France, has managed to fetch a 45 million USD (40 million EURO) funding from multiple companies like Tencent, CNP Assurances, XAnge, and New Alpha. Lydia has brought more than 3 million users on board in France since its inception. A good part of its users’ base comprises of millennials. As per the company, it is adding 5000 new consumers daily.

“At first, we wanted to raise less, but we ended up raising more,” Lydia Co-Founder and CEO Cyril Chiche told TechCrunch.

Lydia has recently started offering a new range of products. It is now facilitating users with the option of borrowing as high as 1000 Euros for buying phone insurance. On its app, users can also get credit to open new bank accounts and there is also an option to compare ISPs.

Chiche said,

We have an ambitious goal, which is turning Lydia into a mobile financial service app, Tencent is also the No. 1 player in the video game industry, and there’s no industry with as much user engagement.

The startup has initially been set up as a peer-to-peer based payment service. However, it is now allowing its users to manage their finances in real-time. Lydia app users can also create separate accounts meant for different expenditure targets. Transferring of accounts among the users has also been made possible.

As far as the company’s vision goes, it doesn’t aim to become a substitute for banks. It aims to create the most-effective meta-banking app and transform itself into a hub adjoining multiple financial institutions, including banks.

Lydia has been offering its services in many European nations, including Spain, Ireland, and the United Kingdom. It started operation in 2013 with a handful of employees. Over these years, it has made a fortune of having more than 3 million users, and the current workforce goes above 90.