London fintech startup iwoca just got $20 million from German investors
iwoca
The latest example is iwoca, an online small business credit provider that just raised $20 million (£12.8 million) from 2 German investors, including the venture capital arm of bank Commerzbank.
It's iwoca's second round of financing and takes the total it's raised to $31.5 million (£20 million). Sources we spoke to indicate that the latest raise values the 4-year-old startup in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
London-based iwoca is a part of a crop of super-hot startups looking to reinvent business finance in the UK. Other leading lights include peer-to-peer lender Funding Circle, invoice finance provider MarketInvoice, and small business lender Ebury.
iwoca extends credit facilities up to £150,000 ($234,000) to small businesses. It was founded by 2 ex-investment bankers - Goldman Sachs alum Christoph Rieche, now CEO, and James Dear, iwoca's CTO who was previously at Deutsche Bank.
Rieche is on a trade mission to Asia with Prime Minister David Cameron right now, but I jumped on the phone with the company's CFO Michael Elalouf to talk about today's raise.
"What's most interesting here is that this fundraising enables us to issue $150 million (£96 million) worth of loans across our geographies and enable 1000s of smell to grow thanks to our product," Elalouf told me.
iwoca operates across the UK, Spain, Poland, and Germany, and has thousands of customers, according to Elalouf. The number of loans made grew by 250% in the year to June.
Elalouf says: "We have a very clear pricing policy - we just charge interest, no fees. No underwriting fees, no retaining fees. This gives great flexibility for our customers and they appreciate that a lot."
iwoca's custom-built lending engine gives businesses a decision whether it will lend to them within the day, pulling in a tonne of data points to make the call.
Elalouf says: "We go beyond the traditional credit scoring and gather a wealth of other sources, such as banking data and industry-specific data. If you look at the eBay traders of this world, we gather data from them that would enable us to get a better credit view of our customers."
As well as lending more, Elalouf says the latest fundraising will let the company build additional products. iwoca is also considering expansion to new countries. Elalouf says: "Looking at our current exposure, we've got exposure to half of the GDP of Europe already. But we're looking at other markets - France is an interesting market, so is Ireland."
- I spent $2,000 for 7 nights in a 179-square-foot room on one of the world's largest cruise ships. Take a look inside my cabin.
- Colon cancer rates are rising in young people. If you have two symptoms you should get a colonoscopy, a GI oncologist says.
- Saudi Arabia wants China to help fund its struggling $500 billion Neom megaproject. Investors may not be too excited.
- Catan adds climate change to the latest edition of the world-famous board game
- Tired of blatant misinformation in the media? This video game can help you and your family fight fake news!
- Tired of blatant misinformation in the media? This video game can help you and your family fight fake news!
- JNK India IPO allotment – How to check allotment, GMP, listing date and more
- Indian Army unveils selfie point at Hombotingla Pass ahead of 25th anniversary of Kargil Vijay Diwas
- JNK India IPO allotment date
- JioCinema New Plans
- Realme Narzo 70 Launched
- Apple Let Loose event
- Elon Musk Apology
- RIL cash flows
- Charlie Munger
- Feedbank IPO allotment
- Tata IPO allotment
- Most generous retirement plans
- Broadcom lays off
- Cibil Score vs Cibil Report
- Birla and Bajaj in top Richest
- Nestle Sept 2023 report
- India Equity Market