Varengold Bank invests in Dutch BNPL firm Billink

Launched in 2019, Billink now has over three million users and counts more than 3,000 affiliated sales partners in the Netherlands and Belgium.

The scale-up has also gained ground in the business market, where 20% companies of all companies registered in the Dutch Chamber of Commerce have made at least one payment using the platform.

The firm says it will use the funding to expand its offering to the top-50 largest Benelux web shops, enter the German market, and further fuel its ambitions to bring the same level of assurance consumers have in offline transactions online.

Frank Waagmeester, CEO of Billink, says that with the fresh funding under its belt it is in a position to mount a direct challenge to Sweden's Klarna and Germany's Riverty, formerly AfterPay.

"We differentiate ourselves by being a 'local hero'," says Waagmeester. "We have been active in the payment market in the Benelux for over a decade and understand the challenges of our web shop owners. We see this reflected in, among other things, a high customer retention and satisfaction score.

"We are now working on Billink Check-out 2.0, which makes the customer experience even more personal and helps web shop owners further optimize conversion. For this we are not only talking to the largest web shops in the Benelux about their challenges and needs, we are also developing our own AI application."