• This recent round was backed only by previous investors, such as Tencent and Insight Venture Partners
• Before this funding, the company’s valuation was at $2.7 billion
• Besides the traditional banks, competition in Brazil must also include Nubank

N26, a Berlin-based digital bank with more than 3.5 million clients and present in 24 countries across Europe and the UK, has just raised $170 million in new funding, elevating its valuation to $3.5 billion, a 30% increase.

Backed by Tencent Holdings, Insight Venture Partners, GIC, Allianz X, Peter Thiel’s Valar Ventures, Earlybird Venture Capital, and Greyhound Capital, this last capital raising will be addressed to the startup’s expansion plans, which include Brazil and the USA, besides improving their product portfolio. 

This new funding comes only a few months after the $300 million series D round of the German fintech, as reported by TechCrunch. The company is actually considering this as an extension of the previous round. On the whole, N26 has already raised $670 million and claims that it is now the German startup with the highest valuation, and one of the highest-valued fintechs worldwide.

Competing with traditional banks, N26 offers fully digital banking services, focused mostly on people who travel often and have to deal with multiple currencies. In a premium feature, customers are free of exchange rates when withdrawing money abroad or making payments in other currencies.

Operating in the USA since July 10th, the fintech’s next move will be to step into the Brazilian market, where it would probably face competition against another digital bank well-known for its purple card, Nubank.