Advanon, a Switzerland-based short-term enterprise loans service backed by telecommunications firm Swisscom, has been acquired by direct lender Creditgate24 for an undisclosed sum, Finews.com has reported.
Founded in 2014, Advanon provides direct loans structured to meet the short-term cash flow requirements of small and medium-sized enterprises. It was forced to cut most of its headcount during 2019 after being duped by an invoicing fraud scheme, according to Finews.
The merger is seen as consolidating Switzerland’s lending market, enabling the new company to expand in areas including consumer and trade-based lending. Creditgate24 and Advanon have processed a total of about $638bn of loans between them since both were founded in 2015.
Advanon secured an undisclosed amount of seed funding in 2015 before adding $13m in a mid-2018 series A round featuring Swisscom’s corporate venturing unit, Swisscom Ventures, as well as B-to-V Partners, VI Partners and Urs Wietlisbach, who is also an investor in Creditgate24.