Klearly, a hospitality-focused payments platform built specifically for restaurants, bars and clubs, has secured fresh funding as it looks to accelerate its expansion across Europe and strengthen its position in a highly competitive payments market.
The Amsterdam-based FinTech has raised €12m in a Series A funding round. The investment was led by PayPal Ventures, with participation from Italian Founders Fund, alongside existing backers Global PayTech Ventures, Antler Elevate and Shapers. The latest round brings Klearly’s total funding to €20m.
Founded to address the unique operational pressures faced by hospitality businesses, Klearly positions itself as a payments layer designed for high-traffic, peak-service environments. While many restaurants rely on generic or legacy payment systems, often ill-suited to busy service periods, Klearly focuses on speed, reliability and seamless integration with existing point-of-sale systems. By sitting on top of established POS infrastructure rather than replacing it, the platform aims to help operators improve service flow, increase revenue per guest and boost customer retention.
Klearly’s technology is device-agnostic and can be deployed on existing hardware, allowing merchants to get started without investing in new equipment. For businesses seeking deeper integration, the platform connects directly to current POS systems, creating a more streamlined and resilient payments experience without disrupting established workflows.
The company has already gained significant traction in its home market. More than 4,000 merchants in the Netherlands are now processing payments through Klearly, and the company is using this momentum to push further into Europe. With the new capital, Klearly plans to double down on expansion in Italy and Belgium, targeting leading restaurant groups and strengthening relationships with POS partners in both markets.
In addition to geographic growth, the funding will support continued investment in product development and team expansion. Klearly said it intends to build out its commercial, partnerships, operations and engineering teams as it scales, while also deepening integrations across the hospitality technology ecosystem.
Klearly CEO Sam Koekoek said, “Klearly has a simple mission: to build Europe’s best payments system for restaurants, bars, and clubs. We’re not a generic payments player, and we don’t force merchants to switch POS. Instead, we provide a payment layer purpose-built for hospitality that supports leading operators and the leading POS providers. This funding will allow us to accelerate our expansion across Europe, hire across engineering and operations, and continue strengthening our product depth.”
Ashish Aggarwal, partner at PayPal Ventures, said, “Hospitality remains one of Europe’s largest – yet least integrated – payment categories. Klearly gives restaurants, bars, clubs and POS providers a modern, integrated payment experience, without replacing existing systems. We believe that Klearly will power the next generation of hospitality commerce across Europe, and we’re excited to support the team as they scale in Italy, Belgium and beyond.”
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