28 September 2015, 10am CEST
- Peter Thiel, Amadeus and existing investors, Värde Partners, HPE Growth Capital and Blumberg Capital, also participated
- Company in advanced discussions for an additional closing
Hamburg, Germany, 28 September 2015 – Kreditech, a leading consumer finance technology company, has raised EUR 82.5 million in Series C financing to fuel the company’s growth. The round was led by J.C. Flowers & Co. LLC, a leading private investment firm dedicated to investing in the financial services industry globally. Peter Thiel and Amadeus Capital Partners (Amadeus) invested earlier this year in a bridge loan that has now fully converted into Series C equity. Existing shareholders Värde Partners, HPE Growth Capital and Blumberg Capital also participated in the round. The company is in advanced discussions for a final closing that could increase the Series C round to over EUR 100 million.
“We are excited to bring these world-class investors on board who will support us in strengthening our integrated financial services platform, bringing us closer to our vision of becoming the ‘digital bank for the underbanked,” said Kreditech’s Co-Founder and CEO Sebastian Diemer. “We are a technology company, but also a provider of consumer financial services, and we are fortunate to have a sophisticated shareholder group whose experience and network spans both areas.”
“We view the addition of J.C. Flowers, Peter Thiel and Amadeus as a major validation of our business model. They are important partners in building our capital markets story,” added Kreditech’s CFO Rene Griemens. “The company has now raised cumulative equity and debt funds of more than EUR 300 million, of which EUR 160 million are unused debt facilities available to finance further growth.”
Loren Felsman of J.C. Flowers, who will join the company’s board, said “There are people without access to fair and affordable credit in every market we have analyzed, and technology is enabling new and better ways of offering credit to these customers. Kreditech has developed a remarkably sophisticated approach to real-time consumer banking, and focuses on markets that are relatively less well-served by traditional credit bureaus and financial services providers. Most lenders, including those built on modern technology, may not crack these markets for years.”
“We are very impressed by Kreditech’s speed of execution; its business model, in combination with its innovative scoring and underwriting technologies, has enormous potential to overtake traditional banking models in the future,” said Andrea Traversone, Partner of Amadeus.
Jefferies and Berenberg acted as financial advisors on the transaction.
About Kreditech
Kreditech Group is a technology company that delivers a range of custom-tailored financial services with a focus on underbanked consumers across the globe. Kreditech uses big data, proprietary algorithms and automated workflows to acquire, identify and underwrite customers within seconds. Automated processes combined with self-learning algorithms ensure fast and convenient customer service, minimizing cost and human error while continually improving by incorporating new customer data. Since its founding, Kreditech has scored more than two million individual loan applications, using up to 20,000 data points per application. Kreditech’s global subsidiaries offer products from individually tailored installment loans and microloans to payment and other financial services. Kreditech’s Monedo brand provides an integrated suite of financial products, including a digital wallet and a personal finance manager designed to help customers manage their credit score and plan their spending. Founded in 2012 by Sebastian Diemer (CEO) and Alexander Graubner-Müller (CTO), Kreditech Group has a team of over 200 passionate employees with over 40 nationalities.
About J.C. Flowers & Co.
J.C. Flowers is a leading private investment firm dedicated to investing globally in the financial services industry. Founded in 1998, the firm has invested more than USD 14 billion of capital in 41 portfolio companies in 15 countries across a range of industry subsectors including banking, insurance and reinsurance, securities firms, specialty finance, and services and asset management. With approximately USD 8 billion of assets under management, J.C. Flowers has offices in New York and London.
About Amadeus Capital Partners
Amadeus Capital Partners is a leading technology investor. Since its inception in 1997 the firm has raised over $1bn for investment and backed some 100 companies in the software, mobile, internet, cyber security and medical technology sectors. The investment team is global (UK, Sweden, USA, India and South Africa), has deep experience in technology and invests in high-growth companies at all stages of development, from seed and early stage to pre-IPO. Major businesses built by Amadeus include CSR (LSE:CSR), a connectivity, audio, imaging and location semiconductor company; Solexa, the developer of next generation genetic analysis systems, merged into Illumina (ILMN) to create the world leader in gene-sequencing technology, Octo Telematics, the global leader in insurance telematics services acquired by Renova Group; and Transmode (ST:TRMO), an optical networking solutions business.
Press Contact
Anna Friedrich
Office: +49 40 605 905 621
anna.friedrich@kreditech.com