Numeral raises €13M to enable tech companies to automate payment operations

DEC 21, 2021

BY BALDERTON

The round was led by Balderton with participation from angels including Alexandre Prot (Qonto), Tom Blomfield (Monzo), Guillaume Princen (Stripe), and Kima Ventures.

Numeral was co-founded by Édouard Mandon (previously at Ibanfirst and Jumia) and Hichem Mâalmi (previously at Qonto and Boursorama Banque) within the startup studio Logic Founders (the fintech branch of eFounders).

Numeral has developed an API and web app which enable tech companies to connect to their banks and automate payments through their entire lifecycle, from initiation to reconciliation. The API is used by developers to integrate payment capabilities and features into their own apps, while the web app is used by finance and operations teams to reconcile payments and accounts.

Read Rob Moffat's thoughts behind the investment.

Payments are the lifeblood of the economy. They are key to the operations of most companies in most industries. Yet companies are stuck using software developed 15 years ago to send and reconcile payments. While companies such as Stripe and Adyen have developed APIs for cards and alternative payment methods, there is no such solution for bank payments. We are changing that with Numeral.

Édouard Mandon, Numeral co-founder & CEO

The Numeral co-founders, Hichem Mâalmi and Édouard Mandon

Numeral develops an API and a web app that enable tech companies to connect to their banks and automate payments through their entire lifecycle, from initiation to reconciliation. The API is used by developers to integrate payment capabilities and features into their own apps, while the web app is used by finance and operations teams to reconcile payments and accounts.

Companies across a number of industries, from financial services to real estate and retail to transportation, process large volumes of payments as part of their operations. Bank payments (credit transfers and direct debits, as opposed to card payments) amounted to €156 trillion in 2019 in Europe alone. But processing large volumes of payments often requires using legacy bank and payment infrastructure and software, developing complex in-house systems, and building large teams. Companies need to group individual payments into payment files, which requires complex and error-prone data mapping and manipulation. They also need to process reports and account statements to reconcile payments rejected, executed, or received. At best, they connect to bank SFTP or EBICS servers to automatically send and receive files. At worst, they log in to web bank apps to manually upload and download files.

Over the years, managing and automating cash flows became critical for us to scale. So, we were thrilled when we found out that Edouard and Hichem were working on a unique product that was answering that exact need. Since then, they have been executing at an outstanding speed and we're very impressed by their focus on security and reliability.

Axel Cateland, Head of Banking at Spendesk

Through our portfolio, we have been aware for years of the challenges tech businesses face in running payments operations with their banks, and looking for a company which can solve this. Edouard and Hichem's deep product focus and experience in this sector make them the perfect founders for Numeral. We have been following them closely since day one and been super-impressed by their speed of product execution and by them already signing up lighthouse clients.

Rob Moffat, Partner, Balderton

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