Creditshelf snaps up Commerzbank small business platform

The German small business lending platform added it will work together with the banking powerhouse to arrange SME loans.

Small business lending platform Creditshelf has snapped up a rival owned by German banking giant Commerzbank, in a deal that will also see the pair work together to secure loans for growing firms.

Frankfurt-based Creditshelf said it bought peer-to-peer business lender Main Funders, launched in 2016, for an undisclosed sum.

The acquiring German platform said the move was in “line with creditshelf's strategy of bringing potential investors together with medium-sized companies” adding that the deal has the ability to boost its “executed loan volume to a new level”.

The deal will see Commerzbank and Creditshelf, founded in 2014, cooperate to arrange loans for small and medium sized entrepreneurs (SMEs). The banking powerhouse will receive a one-off commission from Creditshelf for completed loans that had initially approved by Main Funders.    

Creditshelf said in 2019, the first year of the deal, “an executed loan volume in the higher double-digit million range is targeted”.

Creditshelf chief executive Dr. Tim Thabe said: “By the conclusion of this important agreement we further broaden our long-standing and good relationship with Commerzbank with very important aspects for us. We are entering a pilot phase that will lay the foundation for further banking cooperations.”

Dominik Steinkühler, divisional head of strategic product management & digitalisation at Commerzbank's corporate clients, added: “The cooperation with creditshelf gives us, as the bank for German SMEs, the opportunity to further expand our broad range of financing products.”  

Last July, Creditshelf went public on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange raising €16.5m, which it said it would use to upgrade its risk analysis algorithm, boost its product portfolio and increase brand awareness.