iwoca, one of the fastest growing SME lending platforms in Europe, has finalised a USD20m Series B equity financing rounded by Acton Capital Partners, the specialist German venture capital firm, and CommerzVentures, the corporate venture capital subsidiary of Commerzbank.
Redline Capital and other existing investors also participated.
iwoca achieved over 250 per cent year-on-year growth in loan issuance in the twelve months to June 2015, demonstrating that alternative lenders represent a key lever for economic growth as traditional banks have struggled to meet the funding gap. The alternative finance market in the UK is expected to jump to USD7 billion in 2015 up from USD2.5 billion in 2014
Vasile Foca, co-founder and Director of Talis Capital, says: “Since we led the Series A back in 2012, iwoca has developed a revolutionary risk model that can understand any small business and through great execution of its growth strategy, become Europe’s leading Fintech lender. We are excited to retain a significant interest in the business and are delighted to welcome Acton and CommerzVentures as shareholders.”
Christoph Rieche, co-founder and CEO of iwoca, says: “We're aiming to offer a flexible finance option to all of Europe's twenty million small businesses. Raising investment from Acton and CommerzVentures is a vote of confidence in iwoca and a sign of the growing interest not only of financial investors but also of leading banks in alternative fintech lenders. This will be crucial to increasing access to credit and supporting growth amongst European SMEs.”
Matus Maar, co-founder and Director of Talis Capital, says: “iwoca has redefined SME lending with a scalable, differentiated technology platform. Series B funding will see iwoca further capitalise on a sizeable European market opportunity and is a significant vote of confidence in the outstanding management team we backed in 2012.”
