Specialist VC investor Augmentum Fintech has joined Prime Ventures and others to help European small business lender iwoca to £150m of equity and debt capital.
The Series D round, which also included backing from NIBC Bank and other existing iwoca investors, has brought the company’s total funding to £350m.
Iwoca said the new capital would allow it to support more small business owners across the UK, Germany and Poland.
The company reached profitability in 2018, while doubling its revenue in each of the last three years.
So far the fintech business has funded more than 25,000 small businesses in Europe through its simple, online credit portal.
Company co-founder and CEO Christoph Rieche said, “iwoca continues to grow rapidly while bank lending to small companies has dwindled.
“We are on track to fund 100,000 small businesses in the next five years and our mission is to help one million small businesses succeed by opening up access to finance.
“This fundraise enables us to empower many more small businesses and we are excited that we could win Augmentum Fintech to join our next phase of growth.”
Augmentum Fintech CEO Tim Levene added, “As an SME lender, iwoca is unique for its scale in both the UK and Germany.
“The factors that underpin iwoca’s success are difficult to achieve in combination. We are confident that iwoca will emerge as one of the few winners in the SME non-bank lending space.”
Augmentum Fintech targets businesses disrupting the banking, insurance, asset management and wider financial services sectors.
It is the only listed fintech-focused venture capital firm in the UK, having launched on the main market of the London Stock Exchange in 2018.
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