• SeedBlink helps Pago raise a EUR 2.3M Series A round of investment
• Pago is a Romanian all-in-one app for managing utility payments, taxes, etc.
• With the new funding, the startup with integrate more service providers and expand across Europe

This October, the famous Romanian crowd investment platform SeedBlink announced yet another landmark campaign. Pago, the Romanian app for managing utility bills, raised its EUR 2.6M Series A round on the platform, with pre-committed funding from Mozaik Investments.

The Beginnings, Milestones and Challenges

Adrian Cighi and Alexandru Gala Popescu started Pago in 2017 because they wanted a service for paying their household payments. Mr Cighi was working in investment management at the time and Mr Popescu had a software development agency. After confirming their MVP – a simple, intuitive app designed to make recurring payments, such as utilities, effortless for users – they confirmed it with partners like Banca Transilvania and Mastercard and focused on the Pago app fully.

In 2018, Pago expanded partnerships with major utility providers in Romania, establishing a comprehensive ecosystem. The app diversified its offering in 2019 by introducing new payment categories, including taxes and travel insurance.

Pago centralizes all payment details in one place, allowing users to monitor, schedule, and settle bills from multiple service providers. With features to handle recurring payments, Pago ensures users can stay on top of regular expenses without the hassle of logging into multiple platforms. It also sends real-time notifications and reminders to help users avoid missed payments. The app enables secure, seamless transactions directly through linked bank accounts or cards, integrates with loyalty programs, and offers tools for tracking spending habits, empowering users to make informed financial decisions.

‘Throughout our journey, one of the main challenges has been integrating with various service providers, which required significant technical development and coordination. Another key challenge is to change people’s habits about paying their bills and helping them to use Pago for fast, simple, and secure payment instead of wasting time managing different apps or waiting in line at the store,’ Mr Cighi shares.

‘In our mission to make household payments easy for everyone, we aim to meet them where they are. This is why our services, like bill payments, mandatory car insurance, or mobile top-ups, can be integrated into other consumer or banking apps through our white label SDKs. Our partnerships so far with BT Pay from Banca Transilvania, AmParcat parking app, MyEngie, and George from BCR Erste have given a big boost to our coverage of our addressable market in Romania,’ the CEO continues.

Going International

2020 marked Pago’s first international expansion as service became available in Poland. In 2023, the app launched in Italy. The startup’s expansion strategy focuses on markets with similar payment challenges to those we’ve successfully addressed in Romania. Mr Cighi lists the key factors for choosing new markets:

• Market fragmentation: Countries where utility bill payments are managed across diverse providers or manners of payments and where direct debit does not have a significant market share.
• Digital adoption: Regions with growing mobile and digital payment penetration.
• Consumer need: Areas where users could significantly benefit from a centralized payment platform.

‘Poland and Italy were natural first steps due to geographic proximity and cultural similarities to Romania, enabling us to leverage existing learnings and partnerships,’ the CEO comments.

Sizable Crowd Investment and Making Full Use of It

Pago’s crowdfunded EUR 2.3M Series A round marked another crucial milestone for the company, solidifying its position as a community-backed platform. According to Mr Cighi, the startup chose crowdfunding for its latest round because it aligns with fostering a community-driven product and allows users to become stakeholders, further strengthening their connection to the platform.

‘SeedBlink stood out as a partner because of their strong reputation in Central and Eastern Europe, as well as their hybrid approach, which combines venture capital expertise with the inclusivity of crowdfunding. Their platform has a robust network of investors who understand and value fintech innovation, making them an ideal partner for our expansion goals,’ Mr Cighi explains.

‘Pago has understood that success comes from building a strong community, attracting over 220 investors through SeedBlink. We are proud to offer a platform that supports companies aiming for a public listing in the next 2-3 years,’ SeedBlink’s head of financial services Eric Bartha.

For SeedBlink, it is also a milestone as Pago’s EUR 2.3M is a record amount raised on SeedBlink, adding to the likes of Dronamics with EUR 2.6M or Bright Spaces with EUR 1.9M.

The company will primarily use the sizable recent investment to accelerate our regional expansion and enhance the Pago platform. Specifically:

• International growth: Replicating Romanian success in Romania in five other European countries.
• Enhanced features: Improving and adding new features to the app to help the growing user base save time by easily accessing an increasing list of payment types.
• Partnerships: Five new integrations, which will expand the reach to over 6 million phones in Romania alone within the next 24 months.

In markets like Romania and other CEE countries, an all-in-one app for managing utility bills, taxes, and other payments is invaluable for streamlining financial responsibilities in regions where fragmented systems and manual processes often dominate. By centralizing payments, an app like Pago saves time, reduces the risk of missed deadlines, and increases financial transparency for users. It also fosters greater financial convenience by integrating secure digital transactions, encouraging a shift towards cashless economies and improved financial literacy in these markets.