Qomodo raises €34.5m pre-seed to bring BNPL to physical stores

By Gloria Methri

Italian FinTech Qomodo has raised €34.5 million in a seed funding round led by Fasanara Capital. The company is introducing a suite of smart payment solutions to physical retailers, including a Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) formula for unexpected expenses.

Qomodo is positioned as a “simplifier” that enables retailers to expand their businesses by ensuring immediate, secure, and transparent collections, while also increasing the spending opportunities for their loyal customers through interest-free installments.

Physical stores are left out in the cold when it comes to competing online stores, partly due to their limited offering of flexible payment options. Qomodo aims to level the playing field by providing the necessary tools, like its BNPL solution, to physical retailers.

Furthermore, bricks-and-mortar stores currently face challenges such as managing customer payments, which causes stress, and hinders their ability to focus on core operations.

Qomodo positions itself in the digital payments market as an “all-in-one” payment methods aggregator, allowing physical commercial operators to safeguard and expand their cash flow and offer BNPL payments to customers, in addition to one-time payments.

The FinTech focuses on merchants providing services for essential yet often unforeseen expenses, which typically involve a higher transaction value.

Over 500 merchants adopted Qomodo during its stealth mode operation. Additionally, several agreements are in progress, set to onboard thousands of physical retailers in the coming months through API-based integration. These figures encompass both independent businesses and major retail chains.

Gianluca Cocco, CEO and co-founder of Qomodo, said, “We have developed an “all-in-one” product that offers merchants all the payment solutions they need today: from SmartPOS for card acceptance to BNPL, Pay-by-Link, and Tap-to-Phone. This way, we are introducing innovation to many sectors that often suffer from technological delays and endure slow and bureaucratic processes. Qomodo aims to bring the advantages of online payments to physical stores, focusing on essential expenses that significantly impact people’s lives. Motivated by strong early market signals, investor trust, and international partner interest, we have assembled a team with FinTech experience to capture the opportunity for growing our customer base by hundreds, even thousands, of new merchants each month”.

Gaetano De Maio, COO and co-founder of Qomodo, added, “Through a simple, transparent, and secure platform, Qomodo empowers stores to free themselves from the stress associated with managing customer payments—a particularly delicate aspect today—enabling them to fully concentrate on their businesses. Qomodo is a suite of tools to grow their businesses, foster customer loyalty, and acquire new customers. Simultaneously, thanks to the BNPL option without interest and costs, consumers can fulfill their needs by accessing services that were previously inaccessible, especially in the world of physical stores.”