How Qonto became the preferred bank for professionals (Interview)

© Presse-citron

“Our mission is to free professionals from banking complexity, so that they can focus on what they do best: their company.” This is how Philippine Rougevin-Baville, General Manager of Qonto France, sums up the philosophy of the French neobank. This approach has allowed it to position itself as the preferred bank for entrepreneurs, with over 500,000 customers in Europe. How did the company manage to gain adoption so quickly?? Analysis of a success.

A banking platform designed for professionals

© Qonto

Qonto's success lies first and foremost in its ability to simplify banking management for professionals. While traditional banks fail to meet the specific needs of small businesses, Qonto has innovated by offering an all-in-one platform that combines banking services and financial management tools.

“Professionals, particularly VSEs and SMEs, are often overwhelmed by complex and time-consuming administrative tasks, explains Philippine Rougevin-Baville. Qonto addresses this issue by offering a simple and accessible interface, while integrating essential features such as team expense management, invoicing, and even pre-accounting”. Thanks to an intuitive interface, the neobank allows entrepreneurs to manage their cash flow smoothly, without getting lost in a multitude of disparate services.

This simplification of the banking journey was a major hook for Qonto, which quickly attracted customers thanks to its easy-to-access model that is perfectly adapted to the needs of businesses. “The goal is to remove the complexity of banking processes, to make financial management as simple and intuitive as possible”, insists the General Manager of Qonto France.

Much more than a simple bank account for professionals, Qonto is evolving into a complete platform capable of offering expense management tools that are as powerful as they are accessible.Managers can track their teams’ expenses in real time, manage bank cards in a granular manner, and have total control over their finances. These services are essential for small businesses, which do not always have the resources to outsource financial management.

The ally of accountants

© Qonto

In its almost unhealthy concern for support, Qonto has put accountants, essential partners of entrepreneurs, at the heart of its solution. “Accountants are essential partners in managing the finances of small businesses, but their administrative tasks are often repetitive and unrewarding, explains Philippine Rougevin-Baville. Qonto frees them from this burden, so that they can focus on higher value-added missions, such as consulting.”

Thus, after integrating an invoicing tool directly available free of charge on the platform, Qonto has integrated a mandate feature, allowing an accountant to manage their client's banking operations independently. This ranges from opening an account to fully managing daily transactions. This mandate system has thus enabled Qonto to create a synergy with accountants, who become natural prescribers of the solution to entrepreneurs.

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Starting your own business involves managing a lot of administrative work (…) Qonto is there to take care of everything. – Philippine Rougevin-Baville –

“Accountants were among our first users, and we built our product with their feedback. enjoys the General Manager of Qonto France. We know that the client-accountant relationship is essential in managing the finances of small businesses, and we have sought to simplify and streamline this collaboration.” Concretely, the integration of accounting tools such as Regate, acquired by Qonto, also facilitates this collaboration. Thanks to this partnership, Qonto allows for perfect synchronization of financial data between clients and their accountants.

More recently, the company has opened up to business creators. “Starting your own business involves managing a lot of administrative work, which takes creators away from the very essence of their project” explains Philippine Rougevin-Baville. Qonto is there to take care of everything, from filing the K-bis to the legal notice and depositing capital, in order to free up your mind and time.” Well seen.

Profitability by 2026

© Qonto

Like most start-ups, Qonto was built around fundraising. In January 2022, the neobank raised €486 million, an amount that allowed it to strengthen its offering and accelerate its international development. “These fundraisings allowed us to invest in our platform, improve the user experience, and offer increasingly advanced features to our customers,” says Philippine Rougevin-Baville.

The goal is to achieve profitability by 2026 – Philippine Rougevin-Baville –

This financing was of capital importance for Qonto, which was able to strengthen its position on the French market, while establishing itself in neighboring countries such as Germany, Italy and Spain. The company is now present in several European markets, with the ambition of developing further in the years to come.

The successive fundraisings have allowed Qonto to maintain financial autonomy while pursuing its growth objectives. “The objective is to achieve profitability by 2026, which will give us the means to be completely independent, and to continue to serve our customers with even greater efficiency” confides Philippine Rougevin-Baville. And add:

This is a crucial step to ensure our sustainability and continue to offer a quality service to our customers. Achieving profitability will allow us to maintain control over our development and continue to invest in innovations that meet the specific needs of professionals.

The profitability objective is also linked to Qonto's desire to consolidate its model. The company has been able to take advantage of modern technologies to automate banking and accounting processes, which allows it to offer a more competitive and agile offering than traditional banks. By 2026, Qonto intends to remain true to its approach: simplification, accessibility and quality services.

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