Lendix Closes €13.5m Series B

French marketplace lender also announces the appointment of Hélène Falchier – head of Private Equity Investments at CNP Assurances – as a new member of its board.

Small business lending platform Lendix today announced the closure of a €13.5 Series B investment round. The capital comes courtesy of CNP Assurances (a French insurance company), existing shareholders (including Decaux Frères Investissements and Partech Ventures) and institutional investors Matmut and Zencap Asset Management. The company intends to use the funds to expand into Spain and Italy and to increase its product range.

Founded in September 2014, Lendix is a marketplace lending platform that provides French small and medium enterprises with fresh capital injections. Any business customer established in France may apply for funding above a minimum of €30,000 via the platform, with a term of 18 to 60 months, regardless of its industry. Lendix funds companies that have already completed at least two fiscal years trading. These businesses must have been profitable for at least 1 year. Business borrowers must have a minimum turnover of €400,000 for Hotels, Cafes and Restaurants and €500,000 for other sectors.

Olivier Goy, founder and president of Lendix, offered comment:

“We’re delighted to welcome such prominent investors; their partnership with Lendix is a strong  expression of trust in our ambition to revolutionize SME lending. We have many streams of collaboration with them in France, Spain and Italy which will benefit our lenders and our borrowers”

In addition to the fundraise, Lendix has appointed Hélène Falchier – Head of Private Equity Investments at CNP Assurances – as a new board member. Hélène will join Xavier Anthonioz (CEO of 123Venture), Philippe Citerne (director, Accor and Edenred), Philippe Collombel (managing partner of Partech Ventures), Gérard Degonse (chairman of JC Decaux SA’s supervisory board), Christian Gueugnier (Executive Vice President of Financière de l’Echiquier) and Pascal Oddo (chairman of LBO France’s supervisory board).

Hélène added:

“This first investment in the Fintech sector is based on our confidence in Lendix’s ability to expand its leading position in France, but also in other markets in Continental Europe”

Last week, Lendix acquired its former competitor Finsquare, a short-term, SME marketplace lending platform, for an undisclosed amount of money. Set up in 2014, Finsquare had attracted a community of 3,500 active lenders, who had collectively lent over €4m to SMEs via the platform. Finsquare’s community of investors will now be migrated over to the Lendix platform, where they will continue to have access to their existing loan portfolios, as well as to fresh lending opportunities.

Lendix says that it wants to become the leading small business marketplace lending platform in continental Europe. The successful closing of this investment round and the acquisition of Finsquare are a testament to the platform’s ambition. To date Lendix has seen a little over €18m channelled through the platform, including €7m in 2016 alone, according to the Liberum AltFi Volume Index Continental Europe.