Swedish pension fund backs card reading startup iZettle in €40 million round

iZettle raises €40 million from VC firm Dawn and The Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund.
iZettle makes card readers for small businesses.
Swedish company says funding will "accelerate our ambitious growth plan."

LONDON — Swedish card reading startup iZettle has raised €40 million (£35.2 million) to fund growth, just months after its last funding round and amid increased market competition in Europe.

iZettle announced on Tuesday that it had raised the sum from VC firm Dawn and The Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund, which manages SEK 348 billion (£30.9 billion) of assets. Existing investors also took part in the funding round.

The investment comes just three months after iZettle raised €30 million (£26.4 million) from the European Investment Bank (EIB). The Swedish startup has raised over €250 million (£220 million) of investment to date.

CEO and cofounder Jacob de Geer said in a statement that the new money would be used "to accelerate our ambitious growth plan and product innovation."

Founded in 2011, iZettle makes card reading terminals for small businesses. It operates in 12 countries in Europe and Latin America. De Geer told Business Insider in July that iZettle was averaging 1,000 new sign-ups a day.

Per Colleen, head of fundamental equities at The Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund, said in a statement: "We believe in iZettle’s long-term development opportunity through their data-rich technology platform, built for scalability combined with five years of unique insights about the needs of small businesses, which makes it an attractive investment case."

The investment comes amid heightened competition for iZettle. Square, the US company that offers a similar product to iZettle, launched in the UK in June, its first foray outside of the US. Job ads suggest it is looking to expand further in Europe.

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