ING Ventures has invested £5m into Funding Options, an online marketplace designed to help SMEs find the best financing options.
This investment will give ING a minority stake within the company.
Founded in 2012, Funding Options provides a comparison platform for SMEs looking to take out a credit line. The platform searches more than 50 lenders in the market to identify the right loan products for businesses and also helps to close the deal.
Businesses can search for business loans, invoice finance, asset finance, property development loans, commercial mortgages, business credit cards, and working capital, among others.
This investment and partnership is part of ING’s strategy to create an open financial services platform, the company said.
Capital from this round will be used to continue the platform development, increase staff numbers, and expand internationally.
Earlier in the year, Funding Options and ING partnered to launch the service in the Netherlands to help Dutch SMEs find funding. Through Funding Options, SMEs are able to access financing from ING and other lenders.
ING CEO Vincent van den Boogert said, “ING believes it is important that SME business owners with a good business plan should be given the best options and widest choice, and that we are able to offer them the best financing options.
“This platform will enable them to compare what’s on offer and allow us to make alternative sources of financing available to them quicker than before. By lining up all these options next to each other, we’re offering the SME business community the most extensive selection on a single platform.”
Earlier in the year, ING led the €21m financing of B2B payments company TransferMate to support its global expansion efforts. Ireland-based TransferMate is a cross-border business payment platform for sending and receiving funds in a secure and regulated system.
Copyright © 2018 FinTech Global
