Building a €20 Billion Banking-as-a-Service Platform – Insights from Swan’s CEO Nicolas Benady

In this episode of Unicorn Bakery, Nicolas Benady, co-founder and
CEO of Swan, shares the journey of building one of Europe’s leading
Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) platforms. Nicolas takes us behind the
scenes of how Swan started in 2019, spent two years building its
infrastructure, and has now grown to process over €20 billion in
payments annually. Nicolas discusses the challenges of creating a
BaaS platform from scratch, the importance of conviction and
timing, and how Swan is helping companies embed banking services,
such as accounts, cards, and payments, into their own products. He
also shares insights into fundraising, team building, and expanding
into new markets, such as Germany, Spain, and the Netherlands. What
you’ll learn in this episode: The Journey of Building Swan: How
Nicolas leveraged 13 years of fintech experience to identify the
need for a better BaaS platform Why conviction and a clear vision
were critical during the two years it took to build Swan’s
infrastructure and obtain its e-money license Fundraising and
Growth: How Swan raised over €100 million, including a €42 million
Series B extension, to scale its operations Lessons from
fundraising, including why the first round was the hardest and how
traction and reputation made later rounds easier Product and Market
Fit: Why Swan focuses on small and medium businesses (SMBs) and how
it partners with accounting and expense management software to
deliver seamless banking services The importance of building a
product that’s easy for developers to integrate, inspired by the
simplicity of platforms like Stripe International Expansion: How
Swan approached launching in new markets like Germany, Spain, and
the Netherlands The challenges of adapting to different regulatory
environments and market dynamics while maintaining a centralized
team in Paris Leadership and Team Building: How Nicolas built trust
with his co-founders and scaled the team to over 300 employees The
importance of hiring for both skills and cultural fit, and why
Nicolas brought on a deputy CEO to help scale the company ALLES ZU
UNICORN BAKERY: https://zez.am/unicornbakery  Mehr zu Nicolas
Benady: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolasbenady 
Website: https://www.swan.io/  Join our Founder Tactics
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https://www.tactics.unicornbakery.de/  Chapters: (00:00:00)
What was the first time seeing traction since 2019? (00:04:26) How
is Nicolas validating ideas? (00:08:48) Defining the exact problem
before SWAN (00:12:16) Finding Co-Founders first vs. validating the
idea first (00:18:19) Red flags in hiring interviews (00:30:12)
Nicolas' framework for making decisions (00:34:41) Biggest failures
in hiring (00:42:59) Numbers you need to know about SWAN (00:47:46)
Use-Cases of SWAN (00:51:36) How to pick the first partner
(00:58:43) Did Nicolas' self-confidence change through the years?
(01:01:26) The right time to bring on a COO (01:05:36) Doubts and
clarity about former hired employees (01:16:06) Country-specific
functions vs. central functions when expanding