London-based SME lender Stenn valued at $900m following $50m funding round

SME lender Stenn has raised $50m giving the London-based fintech a value of $900m.

The Series A round came courtesy of a single investor, the New York-based investment firm Centerbridge Partners.

In 2020, Stenn raised $700m in two separate rounds, with investment coming from Barclays among others.

Stenn, founded in 2015, is a global platform that provides SMEs with financing opportunities to aid their international trade.

It points to research by Accenture showing that SMEs carry out more than a quarter of global trade, but struggle to access financing.

The London-based fintech use algorithms and data analytics to determine the eligibility of a loan up to $10m and matches the SME with its network of lenders. It says it can provide cross-border capital to SMEs within 48 hours.

Stenn says it will use the equity investment to boost marketing, product development and recruitment.

Greg Karpovsky, founder and CEO of Stenn, said: “A lack of access to finance is stunting the growth of SMEs around the world that are engaged in international trade. “At Stenn, our purpose has always been to level the playing field for global SMEs, helping to plug a multi-trillion-dollar financing gap by connecting these businesses with low-cost institutional capital. Our proprietary platform and data analysis de-risks the process for our banking partners and provides a quick, simple and low-cost solution for SMEs."