N26 Plans to Accelerate IPO Efforts

During a recent interview, Maximilian Tayenthal, the Co-CEO of German banking startup N26, announced that the company is planning to accelerate its IPO efforts. He added that N26 will be 'structurally' ready for an initial public offering by the end of this year.

On the sidelines of the Mobile World Congress, Tayenthal told CNBC that the company is in no rush to enter the public markets. “By the end of the year, N26 will be structurally IPO-ready. We are not stressed to enter the public markets anytime soon. The private markets have proven to be incredibly liquid,” Tayenthal said during an interview with CNBC.

Founded in 2013, N26 is one of the most valuable financial technology startups in the world. In October last year, N26 raised a whopping $900 million in its Series E funding round to expand its operations. The funding round was led by New York-based tech investors Third Point Ventures and Coatue Management. Additionally, Dragoneer Investment Group and existing investors of N26 participated in the round.

Expansion

Though N26 is not rushing for an IPO, the company is aiming to accelerate its efforts in that direction. Tayenthal called N26 'a liquidity-generating machine'.

In the past 2 years, the German banking startup saw a jump in demand for its services. In January 2021, the fintech company celebrated 7 million customers and the number has increased sharply since then.

“Digital banking was an idea that just seemed so new—despite the fact that companies like Amazon, Spotify and Netflix were all founded years before we came up with the idea of N26. But, digitalization wasn’t where banking was back then. That’s why the funding news is such an important moment for us. It confirms that without a doubt, digital banking is here to stay,” N26 mentioned in a blog post after its Series E funding round.