Estonian startup Montonio has secured 11 million euros in a Series A funding round led by European venture capital firm Index Ventures with the participation of Tera Ventures, ff Venture Capital and Superangel, its previous investors. Tallin-based company’s platform is one-stop checout solution for online merchants to accept payments from major Baltic and Finnish banks with a single integration. After the latest launch, the company has started to offer its technology in Poland as well. With the funding, the startup sets its eyes on expanding into new markets and hire more talents for its team to boost this growth. Julia Andre and Jan Hammer, Partners at Index Ventures, are joining the board.
Montonio raises €11M to improve payment and post-checkout experience of online merchants, as thousands of retailers sign on
Montonio, the all-in-one platform for online merchants to accept payments, offer financing and handle the entire post-checkout experience from shipping to returns and refunds, has raised €11 million in a Series A funding round led by Index Ventures. The company has also announced the launch of its offering in Poland, adding to its existing presence in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, with plans to add further markets this year. To support this growth, Montonio aims to expand its team across Europe.
The company’s previous investors Tera Ventures, ffVC and Superangel participated in the round. Montonio has also been backed by senior Wise, Pipedrive and Bolt executives, including Bolt’s CEO Markus Villig, CPO Jevgeni Kabanov, and Adyen’s former managing director Myles Dawson who is joining the board.
Montonio’s end-to-end platform enables merchants to seamlessly accept bank payments, and handle a range of ecommerce services, from financing to deliveries and refund management – all of this through a single, self-serve API integration. Without Montonio, sellers are routinely overcharged and forced to deal with a fragmented patchwork of multiple systems, or to rely on solutions which aren’t tailored to their specific market.
Markus Lember, CEO and co-founder of Montonio said: “Small to midsize merchants get a raw deal from traditional payments and logistics providers. Often they’re unable to accept local payment methods, are charged a premium for lower volumes, and must piece together many different solutions. This means they face higher costs, and can’t deliver top-quality customer service. We have decided to change that.”
Montonio removes the need for additional layers of providers and fees to accept direct debits, Buy Now Pay Later and other forms of payments, in part due to the introduction of open banking standards. It’s highly sensitive to local needs, offering a breadth and depth of post-checkout services for sellers – from shipping to returns and refunds – that are unmatched by other providers.
Justinas Kodžius, head of e-commerce at Gera Dovana, one of the 3,000 merchants who have adopted Montonio, added: “We looked into many payment providers, and Montonio is by far the best product in the market. Montonio dramatically reduced the fees we pay to accept payments, and at the same time improved the end-user experience we can offer to our customers.”
Julia Andre and Jan Hammer, Partners at Index Ventures, join the board.
Commenting on the announcement, Andre said: “Montonio addresses a really important but underserved piece of the e-commerce infrastructure – handling everything that happens from payment onwards. We’ve been impressed with the organic growth of the business, which is showing real demand and need for their product. This is yet another great example of the strength of Estonia as an entrepreneurial nation.”
Adyen’s former managing director Myles Dawson, who is joining this round as an investor and a board member added: “Montonio’s vision to provide a comprehensive ecommerce solution, from the point of payment, is very compelling. It highlights the transition from pure payment products towards next-generation ecommerce platforms that deliver more value to merchants and enhance the experience of their customers.”
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Originally published on ArcticStartup : Original article