Does N26 want to enter Turkey?

According to two media reports, the smartphone bank could take the plunge. The company disagrees.

The Berlin-based smartphone bank N26 has been the talk of the town in several respects in recent months. On the one hand, there has been wild speculation that N26 could soon raise its last really big funding before going public. On the other hand, the negative reports regarding the Berlin-based fintech's money laundering problems have not stopped.

Now there's more trouble: Gründerszene claims to have discovered that N26 is planning to expand into Turkey soon. The start-up portal cites company circles. It is still unclear whether the start-up will launch on its own or with a local partner. Bloomberg also reports that N26 is in contact with the banking regulatory and supervisory authority responsible in Turkey (BDDK) in order to apply for a corresponding license. However, N26 did not confirm the plans when asked by Gründerszene, according to the portal. 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. The company has been valued at one billion euros since 2019 and is currently valued at 3.5 billion euros. In the future, the start-up from Berlin is probably aiming for a valuation of more than eight billion euros, which is higher than that of Commerzbank, and an IPO is also possible in the next 24 months.