Gothenburg, Sweden-based Juni is a fintech company that develops a banking app and platform for e-commerce and online marketing entrepreneurs. The company has announced today that it has raised $21.5M (approx €18.19M) in its Series A round of funding.
With this development, former iZettle Chief Communications Officer, Johan Bendz along with Niklas Thornestad, who was recently Klarna’s Global Head of Compliance, have joined Juni’s board.
Investment from…
The capital was raised from partners of DST Global, Felix Capital, and additional follow-on from Cherry Ventures and other early investors.
Talking about the startup, Joseph Pizzolato & Susan Lin, Investors at Felix Capital, comment, “In just three months, Juni has already proven that it has the potential to become the next big technology solution for merchants worldwide. The product resonates strongly with their customers by solving a clear pain point and putting time back in the hands of digital entrepreneurs. As investors, we look for signs of ‘customer love’ and ‘digital queues’ in all our investments, and a waitlist of over 3,000 SMEs for Juni’s product is as good as we’ve seen!”
Funds for product development
The proceeds from this round will be used by Juni to focus on its product development and hiring new talents.
In terms of product, Juni reports that it will introduce a number of features in the coming months such as automation of administrative tasks, a unified view of financials tailored to ecommerce merchants and media buyers, and a number of services to financially empower digital companies to grow their business.
Moreover, the company is also looking to increase the size of its team, growing from 28 to over 100 employees in the next 12 months. It is planning to hire talents in the field of sales, engineering, marketing, branding, and customer support.
Platform for e-commerce and online marketing entrepreneurs
Founded in 2020 by Anders Orsedal, Jonathan Sanders, and Samir El-Sabini, Juni is an online banking platform that acts as a financial partner for the next generation Internet-first companies. It aims to empower digital entrepreneurs to make better decisions, enable them to scale up their operation, and release the full potential of digital commerce in their favour.
The platform integrates with thousands of banks and the major payment providers, as well as automates routine functions, allowing business owners to concentrate on creating value for the company instead of managing ad spend and invoices. Moreover, the company also offers a 1 per cent cashback on business expenditures, integrated accounting tech stacks, and zero FX fees on multi-currency accounts.
Recent developments
From March to May 2021, Juni increased its total transaction volume by almost 500 per cent month-on-month with a weekly average growth of 81 per cent. Recently, the company surpassed 250 customers, who have ordered a card and started using it. Notably, this growth has been achieved in only three months.
Samir El-Sabini, Juni co-founder and CEO, says, “Raising such a big round at such an early stage will allow us to sustain the lightning speed growth we’ve experienced, and double down on our product roadmap with full capability. DST has a proven track record of helping companies scale, and exceptional operational expertise. Felix Capital has one of the industry’s most impressive track records when it comes to growing e-commerce related businesses into category-leading players. Their combined hands-on experience, coupled with the mentoring and follow-on from our original investors, is just what we need to give more financial freedom to our customers.”
It was back in October 2020 when Juni raised $2.5M (approx €2.11M) in its Seed round of funding from Cherry Ventures, with contributions from NA-KD.com founder & CEO Jarno Vanhatapio, and former iZettle Chief Communications Officer, Johan Bendz, among others.
The company reports that it has witnessed growth among e-commerce merchants who rely mainly on media buying, and agencies who need tools to manage multiple brands.
Besides, according to Juni’s statement, retail e-commerce sales are expected to grow at a double-digit pace over the next couple of years, and it’s expected that the e-commerce software application market will bring in over $6.53B (approx €5.52B) in revenue in 2021.
