Financial services firm Santander led a €35m ($38.5m) series B round for Germany-based debt-trading marketplace CrossLend on Wednesday through strategic investment fund Santander InnoVentures.
The round also featured ABN Amro Ventures, the corporate venturing subsidiary of financial services provider ABN Amro, and venture capital firms Earlybird and Lakestar. The money was raised at a valuation of more than $110m according to Bloomberg.
Founded in 2014, CrossLend runs a pan-European debt marketplace that converts pre-existing debt agreements into capital market instruments that can then be backed by institutional investors.
Santander InnoVentures plans to explore potential collaborations with CrossLend, which also hopes to secure equity funding in the coming months from other institutional investors enticed by the strategic potential of its platform.
Manuel Silva Martínez, head of Investments for Santander InnoVentures, is joining CrossLend’s advisory board. He said: “CrossLend has the opportunity to become an industry standard, interlinking capital markets in Europe and potentially elsewhere as they eye further international expansion.
“[CrossLend founder and CEO Oliver Schimek] and his team have the right DNA to execute on this ambitious vision, and I am thrilled to actively support them in shaping it together.”
ABN Amro’s Digital Impact Fund joined banking software provider SolarisBank for a $16.2m round for CrossLend in September 2018 that also featured Lakestar and Luxembourg Future Fund (LFF), a vehicle established by the European Union’s European Investment Fund.
LFF and Promus Ventures invested in CrossLend in April 2017, two months after it raised a similarly undisclosed amount from CME Ventures, a subsidiary of financial exchange operator CME Group. Its earlier investors include Lakestar, Northzone and Atlantic Labs.