Fast-growing French fintech Aria eyes European expansion

One of the fastest-growing French startups says the UK could soon be its biggest market and is eyeing up launches in other European countries.

Paris-headquartered Aria, founded in 2019, is looking to shake up the invoice financing sector.

It is looking to fix the problem of SMEs being paid late by businesses by using its tech to offer them speedier payments.

Aria’s tech is embedded into B2B software used every day by SMEs, such as B2B marketplaces, procurement software and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software.

Aria pays SME's invoices upfront, minus a small commission which it takes, and then takes the payment from the SME when the invoice is settled.

As well as offering SMEs financing, its offer runs across onboarding, credit and fraud risks and insurance.

Aria was founded by former freelancers Clément Carrier and Vincent Folny, who were aware of the challenges of late payments.

In a short space of time, it has become one of France’s fastest-growing fintechs, with year-on-year revenue growth of over 300 per cent.

Last year, it carried out a €15 million Series A round led by 13books Capital and saw the participation of Adevinta Ventures, Ankaa Ventures, and Otium Capital as well as several angel investors.

These included Voodoo founder Laurent Ritter, former Apax Partners managing director Mark Ransford, and former Stripe executive and current Mooncard CEO Guillaume Princen. In total, it has bagged around €15 million of funding

Aria launched in the UK, where it now has four employees, last year. The UK market already accounts for around 40 per cent of its revenues.

Carrier said the UK could soon be its biggest market and it is also considering launching in other European markets.

He said:

 “We could also diversify into new geographies maybe expanding at some point in other countries in Europe and outside Europe.”

Growth areas include increasing its client base, such as targeting corporates, and also expanding its product to target larger ERPs and larger Treasury Management Systems.

Being profitable is also important for the fintech.

Carrier added:

“We can be profitable by next year. Next September, we have a plan to become profitable. An alternative plan is to continue to raise equity to accelerate even more. So, it is always a balance between growth and profitability.”