Financial services app Lydia hits unicorn status with latest funding

Lydia, a Paris-based financial services app, has raised over $100 million in new funding, taking its valuation above $1 billion.

Lydia founders, Antoine Porte (left) and Cyril Chiche (right)

The round was led by Lydia’s existing investors Accel, Founders Future and Tencent, and joined by two new investors – American investment funds Dragoneer and Echo Street.

Lydia offers three product lines: a current account, credit and investment.

It was launched in 2013 by Antoine Porte and Cyril Chiche, and has raised $160 million to date.

It claims 5.5 million users (150,000 new users per month) in France, Spain and Portugal; €5 billion in annual transactions; and 160 employees. The company says one in three French 18-35 year-olds use Lydia.

“With this new round of funding, the ambition is clear: to be the main account for 10 million Europeans by 2025,” the company states.

“To achieve this, Lydia intends to hire nearly 800 people over the next three years (including 160 in 2022), expand its credit and investment offerings and deploy significant resources to become a key player in at least three major European Union countries.”