Just seven months after the record funding of 20 million euros, the payment and expense management startup Payhawk is expected to receive new funding almost six times higher (112 million euros), as in the meantime the volume of transactions on the platform of the Bulgarian company has increased by 663%. The US VC firm Greenoaks, that has in its portfolio names like Stripe, Robinhood, Checkout.com, Deliveroo, and Discord led the funding round.The existing investors, QED, Earlybird Digital East, and Sofia-based Eleven Ventures, also participated. Currently, the valuation of Payhawk stands at 570 million dollars and soon it will be the first Bulgarian unicorn.
Payhawk’s will use the funding to expand to new markets like the U.S., The Netherlands, Australia, and Singapore while accelerating the company’s product roadmap with the launch of a credit card offering and low-cost cross-border transfers. The global team is expected to grow from 70 to 250 people in 2022. Payhawk’s headquarters will remain in Sofia, with the company wanting to attract the “elite” of young people operating in the field of technology.
Starting just in 2018, Payhawk reached a second round of funding faster than any other company in Central and Eastern Europe, surpassing 100 million dollars in VC funding. It is also the second largest B2B funding of a company from the Central and Eastern Europe region, just behind the 153 million euros funding of UliPath’s in 2018. Europe-wide, Payhawk’s funding is the third largest in the fintech industry, behind the Austrian Bitpanda and the UK-based Paysend. Of course, among other things, this is the largest funding that takes place in a round in the history of Bulgaria’s tech ecosystem, an example that can be followed by several Startups based in the neighboring country.