On 3 June, the Munich-based digital investment platform Scalable Capital announced its largest financing to date: €155 million ≈ US$175 million, led by Belgian listed investor Sofina and growth-equity shop Noteus Partners, with repeat cheques from Balderton Capital, Tencent and HV Capital. The round lifts Scalable’s cumulative funding to more than US$535 million and comes less than 18 months after a flat, €60 million top-up that had implied a US$1.4 billion valuation.
Funding of that size for a late-stage fintech would have been routine in 2021. In 2024 it was rare; in 2025 it looks like a signal that public-market gloom around brokerage apps is easing and that “invest-tech” may be back in VC favour. CB Insights’ Q1 report already logged a 31% quarter-on-quarter increase in global fintech investment, driven mostly by big AI and crypto rounds, but digital-wealth plays were conspicuous by their absence.
Scalable’s latest funding round defies the current fintech slowdown—raising the question: is the blend of brokerage and robo-advisory once again the hot corner of European fintech?
A Bigger War Chest, a Broader Product
Scalable’s own news release stresses platform breadth, not user growth. In December, the company unveiled a vertically integrated stack that lets it open and custody brokerage accounts in-house rather than through Baader Bank, while also launching a retail exchange (European Investor Exchange) and high-yield cash accounts paying 3.25% (variable) on idle balances. The new capital, management says, will bankroll:
- Geographic expansion beyond its six-country footprint (Germany, Austria, France, Italy, Spain, Netherlands), targeting Poland and the Nordics next;
- Deeper fixed-income and private-markets products, including European-style ELTIF funds and fractional bond ladders;
- Further build-out of its own clearing and settlement rails so it can shave per-trade costs and maintain zero-commission pricing even as ESMA’s retail-investor rulebook tightens.
No valuation was disclosed, but investors close to the deal tell FinTech Futures it priced at a “modest step-up” from 2023’s $1.4 billion round. (techcrunch.com) In today’s market, a step-up at all counts as momentum.
Why Sofina and Noteus Opened Their Wallets
Both lead investors are pan-European growth specialists hunting for asset-light platforms that turn retail flow into recurring fees. Sofina’s public statements cite Scalable’s “blend of brokerage margin, subscription income, and AUM-based fees,” a mix that cushions the revenue hit when equity trading slows. Noteus Partners, meanwhile, manages money for family offices worried that negative stock-bond correlations may not hold in the next cycle; a multi-asset robo allocator is one way to democratise that hedge.
More tangibly, Scalable controls €20 billion+ in client assets, split roughly 60/40 between self-directed brokerage and managed portfolios, according to investor slides seen by Finovate. Assets rose 45% year-on-year despite the worst European equity slump since 2020—a proof-point that the firm can capture inflows even in risk-off markets. That growth, investors reckon, positions Scalable to tap Germany’s looming €1 trillion Riester-pension reform opportunity and the UK-style “pension megafund” discussions now taking root in Brussels (reuters.com).
The Competitive Chessboard
Europe’s invest-tech arena has three broad factions:
| Faction | Examples | Moat & Pressure Points |
|---|---|---|
| Zero-commission mobile brokers | Trade Republic, Freetrade, Bitpanda Stocks | User acquisition via price; pressure from EU ban on PFOF and thin per-trade margins |
| Robo-advisers | Moneyfarm, Nutmeg (J.P. Morgan), Raisin Invest | Asset-based fees; need scale for operating leverage; banks buying them out |
| Hybrid “super-brokers” | Scalable Capital, eToro Money, Revolut Wealth | Multiple revenue levers, own clearing tech; must juggle regulatory regimes and compliance spend |
Scalable lives in the third column. By blending subscription brokerage (PRIME at €4.99/month), a robo advisory fee, and now interest spread on cash, it claims greater revenue resilience than single-product rivals. With the new capital it also becomes the best-funded pureplay in the bloc; Trade Republic’s last raise was a $250 million round in 2022 at a $5 billion valuation.
The Macro Tailwind—and the Caveats
Two macro trends favour invest-tech.
- Rate-driven savings migration. ECB policy kept deposit rates near zero for a decade. As cash yields rose in 2023-24, German savers—who hold €3 trillion in sight deposits—started shopping for higher returns. Scalable’s 3.25% cash pot forward-swept to partner banks captures that flow while cross-selling ETF savings plans.
- Retirement-system reform. Germany, France and Spain are all nudging households from defined-benefit pensions to self-funded pillars. Digital platforms with fractional ETFs and low entry tickets stand to win.
But headwinds loom:
- ESMA’s retail-investor strategy could cap gamified push notifications, restrict margin lending to novices and clamp down on best-execution disclosure—rules that raise compliance cost.
- IPO drought. Without lucrative listings, retail excitement wanes; order flow tilts toward passive ETF buys, which pay thinner internalisation spreads.
- Competitive interest accounts. Banks like Standard Chartered are plumbing 3% retail rates via app-only deposits; Scalable’s cash yield must stay ahead without eroding net-interest income.
Why This Round Signals a Funding Thaw
The simplest reason: size and late-stage appetite. Most European fintech cheques over US$150 million in 2025 targeted infra-rails or AI. A consumer-facing broker raising that number suggests LPs believe in public-markets rebound by 2026 and in a forthcoming IPO window.
Second, Scalable’s raise came days after Berlin robo adviser N26 Invest launched a beta—proof that big fintechs are re-entering wealth, not exiting. Money20/20 Europe panels last week buzzed with “trading super-app” talk, reflecting renewed optimism that wealth modules can cross-sell beyond payment wallets.
Third, valuations appear rational. A “modest step-up” from $1.4 billion suggests perhaps $1.8-$2.0 billion—two to three times projected 2025 revenue. (finance.yahoo.com) That is far below 2021’s 20× multiples and therefore more defensible when IPO windows open.
What to Watch Next
- Passporting into the UK. Scalable has hinted at leveraging its MiFID licence plus a UK subsidiary to crack the world’s third-largest ETF market. Post-Brexit equivalence remains tricky, but if it pulls it off, the revenue mix tilts further to subscription margin.
- Own exchange volumes. The European Investor Exchange is meant to route retail orders internally and capture spread. Monthly volume disclosures will reveal if that in-house model can wean Scalable off third-party venues.
- Private-markets uptake. ELTIF 2.0 rules (live January 2024) let platforms sell private-equity funds to retail. The first-year take-up will show if Europe’s mass affluent truly want alternatives at €100-ticket size.
- Exit chatter. Balderton and HV Capital have been in Scalable since its 2016 seed. Another two-year hold after this round would line up an exit in late 2027—coincidentally when ECB rate cuts may have run their course and IPO markets normalise.
Bottom Line
A single funding round doesn’t define a trend, but Scalable Capital’s US$175 million proves capital is again available for consumer wealth tech—if the unit economics mix brokerage, advice and cash yield in one vertically integrated stack.
Europe’s invest-tech winter is not yet spring; trading volumes remain soft and regulatory clouds persist. Yet investors who sat out 2024’s markdowns are edging back, betting that households shifting trillions from 0% deposits to diversified portfolios will fuel the next growth wave.
If that thesis sticks, Scalable’s cheque will be the opening bell for a fresh funding cycle; if not, it will mark the high-water line before consolidation. Either way, 2025 will tell us whether digital investing in Europe has moved from speculative frenzy to sustainable, cash-generating finance—and whether “super-broker” really is the business model that finally unifies savings, trading and advisory under one app.