Kreditech, one of Europe’s leading consumer finance companies, has raised €10 million in funding from the Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten. Rakuten joins Kreditech’s group of investors, including J.C. Flowers and the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation. Michael Piechalak of the Rakuten FinTech Fund will join the Board as an observer.
Kreditech was founded in 2012 with the mission to improve financial freedom for the underbanked by the use of technology. Combining non-traditional data sources and machine learning, the young company is aiming to provide access to better credit and a higher convenience for digital banking services.
The Hamburg-based company aims to invest the fresh capital into further developing its partnership business. Kreditech has launched its Lending-as-a-service in spring 2016. Renowned partners such as PayU (Naspers) are making use of Kreditech’s POS financing integration.
Kreditech’s CFO, Rene Griemens stated: “In addition to the financial investment, we envision future partnership opportunities. With its strong market position in Asia, Rakuten could be a door opener for us.”
“We are excited about Kreditech because of its unique model of individual empowerment through access to credit across various international markets,” said Oskar Mielczarek de la Miel, Managing Partner of the Rakuten FinTech Fund. “Kreditech is already widely recognized for its distinctive big-data-driven credit model and tech expertise. Rakuten’s investment will allow them to further expand their unique offering.”
