The European Investment Bank provides growth financing to an Italian unicorn for the first time. The operation is part of TechEU, the EIB’s massive financing initiative which aims to mobilize 250 billion euros between 2025 and 2027. The use of non-dilutive financing, calibrated for pre-IPO companies, demonstrates the evolution of an EIB long perceived as focused on infrastructure projects. It now wants to position itself as the financial arm of European technological sovereignty. The objective is to prevent the transactional infrastructures which fuel European trade from relying exclusively on non-European players.
The announcement was made in Milan by vice-president Gelsomina Vigliotti and the general director of Scalapay, Simone Mancini, a highly symbolic gesture for a country which is struggling to create scale-ups capable of competing at the continental level.
For Scalapay, the challenge is to accelerate the enrichment of its range of split payments, online and in store, to consolidate its lead in Southern Europe and to assert a model based on technological mastery and user experience.
Scalapay, founded in 2019 by Simone Mancini and Johnny Mitrevski, became
the first Italian unicorn in 2022 during its series B led by Tencent and Willoughby Capital.
Scalapay operates a solution
BNPL
allowing you to pay in 3 or 4 installments without fees. It boasts more than 11 million users and collaborates with more than 10,000 brands in Southern Europe.
