Tackling financial fraud with AI: Qonto CEO Alexandre Prot

French fintech Qonto is a rare beast in startup land: it's actually profitable. Founded in 2016, the company provides banking and other financial services to 500,000 small businesses customers across eight European markets, helping them do everything from banking to accountancy, lending, savings, and as of recently, payment terminals.And being in the black gives it plenty of opportunities to expand further, via new product development, acquisitions — and by becoming a fully-licensed bank.In this episode of the Sifted podcast, CEO Alexandre Prot joins Amy to talk about how soon Qonto might apply for a banking licence, how it's using AI to tackle fraud and what lies ahead on the path to an IPO.Key moments:02:30 Acquisition strategy 14:05 Becoming a ban19:24 Secondaries and fundraising plans22:57 IPO?25:37 Challenges ahead 28:14 Fraud and AI35:45 What Alex would do differently building Qonto again