Moscow-based SimpleFinance has bagged $15m in equity funding from SBI Investments.
This deal marks SBI’s largest minority investment into a Russian company, and is its second deployment of capital to SimpleFinance. Last year, the firm made an undisclosed investment into SimpleFinance to support its growth and the launch of new services.
Including debt financing, SBI has now deployed around $50m the company in total.
Founded in 2015, SimpleFinance is a digital lending platform for small and medium-sized businesses in Russia. Through the platform SMBs can access factoring, collateral loans, commercial mortgages, unsecured loans and tender loans.
Between 2016 and 2018, the company’s expected CAGR is estimated at 500 per cent.
Through this equity injection, the company will be able to further the enhancement of its platform and continue the growth of its lending portfolio.
The company is currently in the process of developing additional services for crowdfunding platform SimplyFi and for TenderHub, a financing platform for tender participation.
SimpleFinance CEO Alexey Basenko said, “We have already put to work our unique lending platform backed by proprietary technology. By creating products tailored to the needs of small and medium-sized businesses in Russia, we have been able to rapidly expand our lending portfolio, which more than doubled in 2017 and is forecast to double again in 2018 thanks to SBI support”.
Following this investment, the company is looking to appoint its first independent non-executive directors to its board.
Last year, the company picked up $30m in Eurobond issuance, which is on a three-year tenor and annual coupon rate of 10.5 per cent.
Earlier in the year, SBI made an undisclosed investment into InsurTech platform FinanceApp. The platform, wfox, is an insurance policy management solution to help consumers find the right cover.
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