France’s fintech year has got off to a flying start already with Paris-based Pennylane raising an $18.4m Series A round to expand its tools to help businesses navigate the financial repercussions of the pandemic.

The company is part of a growing number of French fintechs and its raise comes after Cedric O, junior minister for digital economy, said he believed Paris could come to overtake London as the fintech capital in Europe, particularly in the context of Brexit. 

Paris is currently home to 1,200 fintechs, according to data from Dealroom, while London has three times as many, but an acceleration in funding in France suggests the country could catch up with its neighbour. 

Pennylane, which was launched in January last year, raised the new investment from Global Founders Capital and Partech, who also participated in its seed round in May, raising $4.3m.

The book keeping startup supplies businesses with real-time financial data, including information on purchasing, sales and banking transactions and aims to give financial managers more insight into their accounts than a third party accountant alone can offer. 

The idea is not to remove outsourced accountants entirely from the process, however. 

“For Pennylane, digital only solutions can do nothing, they must serve and empower managers and accountants,” said Arthur Waller, CEO and cofounder of Pennylane. 

Having a comprehensive, real-time understanding of finances will become more critical for businesses “in the context of crisis and forced digital transformation” brought on by the pandemic, Waller said. 

Pennylane’s services are now used by over 500 customers, all based in France, and it reported $2.4m in revenue at the end of last year. 

Freya Pratty covers news at Sifted. She tweets from @FPratty