German challenger bank N26 has surged into the lead of Europe’s FinTech startup league after it closed a $300 million funding round that valued the company at $2.7 billion.

The Series D funding round, which saw leading venture capital backers Insight Venture Partners and Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC join as investors, makes N26 Europe’s most valuable non-listed FinTech, ahead of rival 'unicorns' Revolut ($1.7 billion) and Klarna ($2.5 billion).

The digital banking app, which launched in the UK in November last year, also used a new year blog to announce that it has signed up 2.3 million customers across 24 markets in Europe since it launched in Berlin in 2015.

Chief executive and co-founder Valentin Stalf said the company expects to hit its target of five million customers sooner than the end of 2020.

Alexander Weber, the bank’s head of international markets, told FStech in November that the neobank had ambitions to emulate the global reach of Netflix or Spotify by building the “first global brand in finance”.

The blog, authored by Maximilian Tayenthal and Stalf, said: “We have closed our Series D funding round with an incredible $300 million. This figure represents the largest private equity financing round for a FinTech business in Europe in recent years.”

The pair said the funding will be used to power N26’s expansion into other markets, including a US roll-out in the first six months of 2019. They explained that this will be achieved by partnering with an established US bank until a full US banking licence can be obtained.

The company launched its mobile-based banking services in seven markets in 2018 and currently has three office locations in Berlin, Barcelona and New York, employing over 700 staff.

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