SoftBank International Group has led a $200 million Series D funding round for Swile, a French startup. This funding round has made Swile a unicorn, allowing it to be valued at $1 billion and more. Swile offers a payment card to employees for benefits such as meal vouchers and gift cards, and sustainable mobility vouchers.
Michel Combes (pictured left), SoftBank International Groups President, is joining Swiles board. Eurazeo and Index Ventures are among the existing investors in startups that are returning to participate. Headline also invests in Swile for first time.
As the company continues to raise larger rounds every year, this is a significant round. Swile raised $17.4million (15 million) in Series A in 2018, $34.7 million (30 millions) in Series B in 2019, and $81 million (70m) in Series C in 2020.
Swile was originally a payment card that could hold meal vouchers. France requires companies to pay for lunch during work hours. Some companies provide a cafeteria that serves cheap food, while others offer meal vouchers that can be used in restaurants or bakeries.
The experience can be a little confusing if you're paying for lunch. Many employees ask if a restaurant accepts meal coupons. You can also use more than one card if you wish to spend more than your daily allowance.
Swile allows employees to add their personal debit cards to the Swile app. Swile charges your personal card automatically when you spend more than the daily limit. It's a better experience.
This product is a huge success. Swile holds a 13% market share in France for meal vouchers, just four years after its launch. It is competing with established companies such as Edenred and UpDjeuner. Swile makes revenue from interchange fees.
The startup is able to attract larger clients than small and medium businesses, including Carrefour, a French supermarket chain with 65,000 employees. Doctolib, Spotify, and Airbnb are some of the other clients.
Since we first disclosed Swile 18 months ago, our bet is that Swile will allow us to manage employee benefits using the Swile card. Loc Soubeyrand, founder of Swile and CEO, told me that it should allow you to manage all your employee benefits.
Employee representatives often offer gift cards at the end of the calendar year. Employee representatives can instead of giving out paper checks, they can top up the Swile card using those gift cards. The employee can then use the same card to buy Christmas gifts and lunch. Swile acquired Sweevana to manage this part of the business.
Swile will soon allow you to pay for ride-sharing and public transport subscriptions, as well as bike rides between your home or office. This market is still in its infancy and French companies will need to contribute to sustainable mobility expenditures, which will begin on January 1.
This is the beauty of unification. Soubeyrand stated that you don't need five cards to manage five benefits. Companies don't need five solutions from five different suppliers.
From a supercard to a super app
The startup plans to create an app that will improve internal communication, conduct anonymous surveys, and collect feedback from employees. This could open up some revenue opportunities with a software-as-a-service approach and monthly subscriptions.
Since the beginning of 2012, the company has been beta testing its app and should have it available for Swile clients very soon. Briq, a specialist in this area, has been acquired by Swile.
Small companies might also be able to manage their corporate spending through Swile in the future. When you're just starting out, managing expenses doesn't necessarily require a separate solution.
Swile has ambitious international goals. Brazil is the largest market for employee benefits. Swile now employs 120 people in So Paulo, thanks to the acquisition Vee Benefcios. It also wants Brazil to become its main market.
Swile hopes to have 500 employees by 2022. The company will then double in size. International expansions will continue. Mexico is another potential market. Swile is just starting to get off the ground in its home country, even though international bets can take time. There is still a small market share, but there are many opportunities for growth.
