Does N26 want to go to Turkey?

According to two media reports, the smartphone bank might take the plunge. The company contradicts.

The Berlin-based smartphone bank N26 has been the talk of the town in several respects over the past few months. On the one hand, there is wild speculation that N26 could soon raise the last really big funding before going public. On the other hand, the negative reports regarding the money laundering problems of the fintech from Berlin did not stop.

Now there is a new buzz: As Gründerszene wants to have found out, N26 wants to expand soon into Turkey. The start-up portal quotes company circles for this. It is still unclear whether the start-up will launch alone or with a local partner. Bloomberg also reports that N26 is in contact with Turkey's banking regulator and supervisory authority (BDDK) to apply for a license. N26, however, did not confirm the plans when asked by Gründerszene, the portal said. The fintech denied everything on Twitter.

N26 was founded in 2013 by Maximilian Tayenthal and Valentin Stalf and is considered one of the success stories of the German fintech scene. Since 2019, the company has been valued at one billion euros, and currently the valuation is as high as 3.5 billion euros. In the future, the Berlin-based start-up will probably aim for a valuation of more than eight billion euros, higher than that of Commerzbank, and an IPO is also possible in the next 24 months.