This funding could well be the last before N26 goes public with an IPO.

Bloomberg reports that German fintech and digital bank N26 is in talks to raise funds, likely in the hundreds of millions of dollars, at a tentative valuation of about $10 billion. Bloomberg quoted people familiar with the matter; however, N26 declined to comment.

Bloomberg said this funding could be the precursor to a stock exchange listing and that discussions are still in a preliminary stage. A final valuation may well settle within the range of $8 billion to $10 billion.

N26’s backers include Peter Thiel’s Valar Ventures, Tencent, and GIC, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund.

Quantum jumps over 2020 in fintech valuations

In May 2020, N26 raised $800 million in a Series D funding round at a valuation of $3.5 billion.

Notably, Revolut, the UK-based challenger and neobank, raised its valuation by six times over a previous 2020 funding, when it announced today its raise of $800 million at a valuation of $33 billion.

Last week, shares of Wise (LON: WISE), another UK fintech, debuted on the London Stock Exchange at a market cap of £8 billion ($11 billion). That figure was more than twice that of the valuation of £3.6 billion ($5 billion) struck in a secondary share sale completed by Wise in July 2020.

N26

Valentin Stalf and Maximilian Tayenthal founded N26 in 2013 and launched their first product in early 2015. The neobank today has more than 7 million customers in 25 markets. It has 1,500 employees stationed in eight global offices, a full European banking license, and no branches.

The bank is planning to launch crypto trading tools, according to a report by The Block last week, and was working with top-tier crypto exchanges on the launch.

A spokesperson said the bank intended to integrate elements of a crypto exchange experience inside the app’s banking and budgeting features.

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