Rauva buys Montepio Crédito for €30M

Rauva, the Portuguese digital bank startup using a super-app that enables people to open businesses and offers an online account with debit card, virtual cards, direct debit and payments, has agreed to buy Montepio Crédito for around €30 million, and ambitions to become the largest digital bank dedicated to EU companies in the European Union.

In an interview with the Lusa news agency, founder Jon Fath said he chose Portugal as the startup’s base — he founded it with three investors — because of the technology ecosystem, because he thinks Portugal is a pioneering country in the simplification of financial operations for companies, and because there is space in the local and EU markets for SMEs.
Fath says that in a country like Portugal in which the majority of companies are small and micro businesses with 10 or less staff, Rauva has the advantage of offering a “complete solution” that combines “banking services, expenses management and accounting”.
“Within five years we want to be a leader in the banking space in the south of Europe for companies in Portugal, Spain, Italy, France, and Greece, and be the largest digital bank for companies in the European Europe”, he said.
As to investment values, Jon Fath would not be drawn on figures, because the company was being analysed by the Bank of Portugal, but said: “we’re going to invest massively in Portugal”.
At the start of September, Rauva agreed to buy the Banco de Empresas Montepio for between €30 and €35 million. The activity (assets and liabilities) and the employees are integrated in Banco Montepio (the current owner of Banco de Empresas) and acquisition is, in practice, a banking licence.
Jon Fath says that Rauva has a banking licence, can lend credit and receive deposits which will be an advantage since its competitors don’t have a banking licence”, and traditional banks “don’t have the technology and solutions that Rauva has for entrepreneurs”.