BNPL firm Billink fuels European expansion plans with $32m funding from Varengold Bank
Dutch paytech Billink is set to expand its buy now, pay later (BNPL) platform after landing a $32.1 million investment from Germany’s Varengold Bank.
Billink raises $32.1m for European expansion
The Gouda-headquartered payments provider says it will apply the funding to further the uptake of its BNPL solution among web-based sellers in the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Belgium, as well as lay the groundwork for its eventual entry into the neighbouring German market.
Billink claims to be championing a focus on payment transparency by “bringing the same level of assurance consumers have in offline transactions online”, an element it hopes will enable it to compete with sector heavyweights Klarna and Riverty.
From its inception in 2011, which was followed by its first BNPL transaction in 2012, Billink has sought to differentiate its offering from those of its competitors by only processing a payment once the correlating purchase has landed in the hands of the consumer.
To this end, its BNPL solution has garnered a sizeable following in the succeeding years, with the paytech now claiming 3 million consumers and over 3,000 web shops among its active user base.
Frank Waagmeester, CEO of Billink, describes the need to pay for online purchases in advance of receiving the product as “unfair”. He adds that the paytech’s second-generation checkout solution and artificial intelligence (AI)-backed app are both in the works, although the timeframe for these two offerings is not yet known.
