Lydia, the French fintech with 6 million users, aims to become the main account for 10 million Europeans by 2025. The application, which is not a neobank, is challenging traditional banks and has surpassed the billion-dollar valuation mark.
Lydia: from payment app to financial super app
"I'll make you a Lydia"Where does this expression adopted by the younger generation come from? It all began in 2013, when three ambitious entrepreneurs decided to launch Lydia, a simple peer-to-peer payment app. Only, this peer-to-peer payment functionality is free and costs the unicorn money.
To monetize its user base, the French fintech has diversified its offering: bank card with current account, microcredit, savings and even trading with crypto-currencies, stocks and ETFs - exchange-traded funds. Each feature earns Lydia money through a subscription and commission system.
Today, Lydia is a super all-in-one financial app that revolutionizes money management for individuals and businesses.
Lydia vs. neobanks
Lydia's wide range of functionalities enables it to compete not only with traditional banks, but also with neobanks such as Revolut and N26. The latter, in turn, have expanded their offering to become financial super apps and maintain their competitive edge.
Very popular, the French fintech now has over 6 million users throughout Europe, the majority in France. The unicorn has declared its intention to become the main account for 10 million Europeans by the end of 2025.
Milestone of one billion: Lydia becomes French Tech's 22nd unicorn
In 2021, Lydia completed its final round of financing. A $103 million fund-raising round, massively subscribed by investors such as Tencent, Accel and Founders Future. According to the company, new players, the American hedge funds Dragoneer and Echo Street, have just joined the capital.
In the words of Lydia CEO Cyril Chiche, "It's a good time to bring in hedge funds, because we've just launched a trading offer, which will enable us to prepare for an IPO in the not-too-distant future.". An IPO is therefore mentioned, but no further details are given.
These numerous financings have enabled the fintech to enter the restricted circle of unicorns, although the exact amount of its valuation is not yet known. An amount which, however, should not be disappointing.
Lydia: key information
Number of employees to date
The Lydia fintech currently employs just over 200 people. A workforce that it intends to expand. In 2021, the company said it wanted to recruit 800 employees by the end of 2025.
Sales figures
Unknown. The company does not officially communicate its sales figures.
Going public
"It's not planned at the moment, but we're not ruling it out"Cyril Chiche, co-founder and CEO of Lydia.
Scalability
Lydia's robust, scalable technological architecture is one of its great strengths. Not only has it enabled Lydia to manage rapid growth in the number of users and transactions without compromising the quality of its services, it has also favored its deployment beyond French borders.
Mantra/Citation CEO
" The digital revolution has come and gone, and new players with innovative methods have appeared (Lydia to the fore). But for us, it's still not going fast enough, and that's what we want to change for good, while remaining true to our values. And to continue to make things that seemed impossible simple. "Lydia.
