Berlin-based Pliant raises additional €8M in Series A extension round; also secures €100M debt facility

Berlin-based Pliant, a company specialised in making the latest generation of corporate credit cards, announced on Tuesday that it has raised €8M in a Series A extension round of funding, bringing the total Series A funding round to €33M. 

The new investment comes from Molten Ventures, joining existing Series A investors SBI Investment, Alstin Capital, and Motive Ventures.  

In addition, Pliant has secured €100M in debt refinancing to solidify its financial position going into 2024.

The announcement comes a year after raising €26M in a Series A round of funding led by Japanese fintech investor SBI Investment.

“Looking back at 2023, we are very proud of what the team has achieved, and despite the current market environment, we are still able to expand all over Europe and secure a significant Series A,” says Malte Rau, CEO of Pliant. 

Pliant: Offers corporate credit cards

Founded in 2020 by Malte Rau and Fabian Terner, Pliant offers modern corporate credit cards. 

The company’s card management platform allows for flexible setting of card limits, and real-time reporting, and can integrate with existing setup of accounting and travel expense management tools and processes. 

The German company offers Visa credit cards, both virtual and physical. 

In the case of physical cards, customers can choose between Blue (Visa Platinum Business) and Black (Visa Infinite Business credit cards). 

The company claims that its Visa cards are accepted by over 40M online and offline retailers in over 200 countries.

In August 2023, Pliant obtained the EMI license in Finland and has now successfully extended the license to 25 countries across the European Economic Area (EEA). 

It means that Pliant can issue cards in these countries and offer a range of financial products and services that cater to the specific needs of customers in these regions.

The company has also developed multi-currency capabilities, and can now offer its services in 11 currencies. In addition, Pliant will be able to expand into markets that do not have EUR as the national currency.

Pliant’s Cards-as-a-Service product allows partner businesses to launch their credit card programs to serve their customers, and aid expansion into several new markets.

The investors

Molten Ventures is one of Europe’s most active venture capital firms, developing and investing in disruptive, high-growth technology companies.

SBI Investment is a venture capital firm based out of Japan. The VC has invested in a total of 1,120 companies, both domestic and overseas, of which 190 companies have successfully become public through IPOs or were acquired by third parties through M&As.