Pleo company profile: valuation, funding & revenue

This Pleo company profile covers the company's valuation, revenue, funding rounds, investors and history. Pleo works in fintech, with a focus on spend management and company cards. It was founded in 2015 and is headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark. Its latest valuation on record is US$4.7 billion (December 2021). Every figure links to a public source, and anything the company hasn't disclosed is marked as such.

Revenue

Funding history

Pleo timeline

Key dates from the sources on this page, oldest first. Metric snapshots are listed after the funding events.

• 2015 — Pleo is founded in Copenhagen by Jeppe Rindom (CEO) and Niccolo Perra.
• Jul 2021 — Series C: US$150M, valuing the company at US$1.7B. Investors: Bain Capital Ventures and Thrive Capital (leads).
• Dec 2021 — Series C extension: US$200M, valuing the company at US$4.7B.

Investors

Overview

Pleo gives businesses smart company cards and software that make spending and expense management simple. Instead of employees paying with their own money and filing expense reports weeks later, they get a Pleo card with spending limits set by their employer. Receipts are captured instantly with a phone photo, transactions are categorised automatically, and data flows straight into the company's accounting software. Finance teams get real-time visibility of spending, and employees no longer need to wait to be reimbursed. Pleo also handles invoices, reimbursements and subscriptions, aiming to be a complete spend management platform for small and mid-sized businesses in Europe.

Jeppe Rindom, the CEO, and Niccolo Perra founded Pleo in Copenhagen in 2015. Both had worked at Tradeshift, a Danish business payments company, where they saw how much time companies wasted on expense processes. Pleo became one of the best-known Nordic fintechs and a symbol of the region's strong startup ecosystem.

Products

• Company cards: physical and virtual Mastercard cards for employees, with individual limits and controls.
• Expense management: receipt capture, automatic categorisation and approval workflows.
• Invoices: tools for paying supplier invoices and managing approvals.
• Reimbursements and mileage: fast payback for out-of-pocket expenses.
• Accounting integrations: connections to software such as Xero, QuickBooks, Sage, NetSuite and local European accounting tools.
• Cash management and overdraft: in some markets, additional financial products for business customers.

Business model

Pleo earns money through monthly subscription fees, which vary by plan and number of users, and from interchange, the fee merchants pay when a card is used, which is shared between card issuers and programme managers like Pleo. Unlike some US competitors that offer free cards and rely mostly on interchange, Pleo combines subscription revenue with interchange, which is lower in Europe because of regulatory caps. The company doesn't publish revenue, so we show it as not disclosed.

Funding

Pleo's early investors include Creandum, Kinnevik and Seedcamp. In July 2021 it raised a US$150 million Series C led by Bain Capital Ventures and Thrive Capital at US$1.7 billion, becoming a unicorn. In December 2021 it extended the round with US$200 million at US$4.7 billion, at the peak of the fintech funding boom. Like many companies that raised at 2021 valuations, Pleo then faced a tougher market; it cut about 15% of its staff in 2023 to focus on reaching profitability. We haven't found a newer priced round, so the data above uses the 2021 valuation, which readers should treat as historical.

Competition

Pleo competes with European spend management companies such as Payhawk, Spendesk and Moss; business banks with card products such as Qonto and Revolut Business; and US players like Ramp and Brex, which have focused mainly on the US market. Traditional banks and expense software providers such as SAP Concur also compete. Pleo's strengths are its brand and user experience among European SMEs and its broad integrations with local accounting systems.

Pleo at a glance

Pleo is a Copenhagen spend management company founded in 2015 by Jeppe Rindom and Niccolo Perra. It provides company cards and expense, invoice and reimbursement software for European businesses. It raised a US$150 million Series C at US$1.7 billion in July 2021 and a US$200 million extension at US$4.7 billion in December 2021.

What spend management means

Spend management covers all the ways a company pays for things: employee cards, supplier invoices, subscriptions, travel and reimbursements. Traditionally these were handled in separate systems and processed manually by finance teams. Modern platforms combine them, giving real-time control and visibility, automating bookkeeping and reducing fraud. For small and mid-sized businesses without large finance departments, the time savings can be substantial, and the market has attracted heavy investment on both sides of the Atlantic.

European versus US fintech economics

In the US, card interchange fees are relatively high, so corporate card companies can make significant revenue from card spending alone and often offer software for free. In the European Union and UK, interchange on consumer cards is capped, and commercial card interchange is also lower than in the US, which makes it harder to build a business on interchange. European spend management companies therefore rely more on subscription fees. This difference partly explains why US players like Ramp have achieved much larger valuations, and why European companies have focused on software value and profitability.

Questions for finance teams

• Does the platform integrate with your accounting software and local tax rules?
• How are card limits, approvals and policies set and enforced?
• What are the subscription costs per user and any foreign exchange fees?
• Which countries and currencies are supported?

From boom to discipline

Pleo's story mirrors that of many European fintechs. In 2021, abundant venture capital pushed valuations to record levels, and companies hired aggressively to grow into them. When interest rates rose in 2022, investors began rewarding profitability over growth, and many fintechs cut staff and slowed expansion. Pleo reduced its headcount, narrowed its focus to its core markets and products, and said it was working towards profitability. For companies in this situation, the key question is whether they can grow into their last valuation; if not, a future round or sale may happen at a lower price, known as a down round. Our guide to startup dilution explains how such rounds affect shareholders.

Who uses Pleo

Pleo's typical customers are small and medium-sized businesses with between ten and a few hundred employees, in sectors such as technology, creative agencies, retail and hospitality. Many have no dedicated finance department or a very small one, so automating receipts and bookkeeping saves owners and accountants significant time each month. Pleo is particularly strong in the Nordic countries, the UK, Germany, Spain and other European markets where it has localised its product for tax and accounting rules.

Latest developments (October 2026)

Our October 2026 review found no new funding round for Pleo after its 2021 raise of US$200 million at US$4.7 billion, which remains the latest sourced valuation and dates from the fintech boom. The Copenhagen spend management company has since focused on efficiency and expanding its product range beyond expense cards. See our fintech guide.

What to watch

Watch for profitability milestones, a new funding round or valuation update, expansion of financial products, possible consolidation among European spend management players and any IPO plans.

Takeaways

Small and mid-sized businesses can replace expense reports with real-time card controls. Founders can learn from Pleo's adjustment after the 2021 boom. Investors should treat its 2021 valuation as a historical mark.

Sources

Every figure on this page comes from the public sources below. Where sources disagreed, we used the company's own announcement or a primary news report. Private-company data changes; check the date beside each figure.

1. City A.M.
2. NECN (CNBC)