Creamfinance Closes €1m Investment Round

VC Fund Flint Capital invests €1m in Creamfinance, making it the largest institutional investor.

Warsaw-based consumer financial services provider Creamfinance has closed a €1m investment round led by Flint Capital, an international Venture Capital fund that invests across the United States, Israel and Europe. The new funds will be employed by Creamfinance to expand its operations into the Scandinavian market.

Two years ago, Flint Capital invested €5m in the platform. On this occasion, the VC fund has partially bought out an Angel Investor and this transaction makes it the largest institutional investor in Creamfinance.

Founded in 2010, Creamfinance is the parent company of CreditOn, LendOn, and CreditOne - consumer credit platforms that operate in Latvia, Czech Republic, Poland, Georgia and Slovakia. Creamfinance uses data to quickly evaluate, score and make short-term loans to its customers. It also uses its proprietary technology to automate as much of its process as possible and to speed up the lending process.

Andrew Gershfeld, partner at Flint Capital, commented:

“We are happy to double bet on the Creamfinance team that we take as one of the most efficient on this market. This deal indicates our true confidence in the company's continuous progress and belief in the expansion to the Scandinavian markets. The deal corresponds with Flint Capital strategy of accelerating our European Fintech investments”

According to Creamfinance, the average loan it disburses is for €209.5 at an average term length of 28 days. Moreover, while 31% of first-time loans are approved, 88% of subsequent loans are approved. The 25-to-33-year-old demographic is Creamfinance’s biggest customer group (31%), followed by the 25 and under (22%).

Matiss Ansviesulis, the CEO of Creamfinance, added:

"The partnership with Flint Capital positions Creamfinance for sustained growth and continued expansion. We value relationship with Flint Capital and are thrilled to see a continuous interest in our business, which helps the company achieve its growth potential”.

According to the Liberum AltFi Volume Index (Continental Europe), the European marketplace lending space delivered Y-o-Y growth in excess of 100% in 2015. A significant measure of this growth has been contributed by the Baltic States platforms, including the likes of Mintos, Bondora, Investly and TWINO.

Looking to the year ahead, AltFi Data recently used historic data to project the likely annual loan origination volumes of the many European platforms in 2016. The Baltic States lenders stand out from the long list of platforms. Mintos (which is affiliated with Creamfinance) is expect to move from €12m to €40m (233%) by the close of 2016; TWINO from €3m to €20m (567%); and Bondora from €20m to €48m (140%).