It’s a big day for Italy today, as payments platform Scalapay’s $497m Series B gives the country its first unicorn since the dotcom boom. 

Scalapay’s Series B comes just five months after its Tiger-led Series A last September, which pushed up its valuation after its seed round in January 2021. It launched in 2019. 

Scalapay says its payment volumes have increased 3x since its Series A, and although the startup won’t confirm its exact new valuation a source familiar with the matter tells Sifted that the new raise “puts them well into unicorn status”.

The fresh cash will fuel the startup’s plans to double its headcount by the end of the year, mainly with tech and engineering roles in Italy, and to finance potential acquisitions. 

In another unusual case for Italian startups, Scalapay’s latest round was backed by an all-star group of foreign investors, seemingly unperturbed by BNPL stocks’ current turmoil. 

“Despite all the valuations turning down in the public markets for BNPL, our investors were quite bullish because we were really able to hold through that period,” CEO and cofounder Simone Mancini tells Sifted.

Back-to-back fundraises

Tencent, no stranger to the European BNPL sector, co-led the round. The Chinese tech giant has previously backed French rival Alma, as well as Afterpay and Berlin’s Billie. 

Also co-leading was New York’s Willoughby Capital, which has previously invested in Bolt.