Kreditech, the Germany-based online consumer lending platform developer backed by payment services firm PayU and e-commerce firm Rakuten, raised €20m ($21.9m) in equity funding on Wednesday.
The round was co-led by venture capital firm Runa Capital and unnamed German individuals, and also featured private equity firm HPE Growth and VC firm Amadeus Capital Partners.
Founded in 2012, Kreditech offers consumer loan products that rely on machine learning and non-traditional data sources to quickly assess credit risk and potentially approve applicants turned down by other lenders due to bad credit histories.
Kreditech’s microloans and instalment plans are marketed directly to consumers but the company also offers lending through partnerships with e-commerce businesses, integrating its credit application process within a client’s platform.
The funding will help the company grow in its existing markets, including India, Poland, Spain and Russia. It has now accumulated approximately $302m in funding altogether.
Rakuten invested $10.5m in Kreditech at a reported $311m valuation in late 2016, before PayU supplied $120m in mid-2017 through a a strategic partnership agreement, valuing the company at up to $549m according to TechCrunch.
Kreditech closed its $103m series C round earlier in 2016 with $11m from International Finance Corporation, the private sector arm of multilateral finance body World Bank, adding to a $92m first tranche the previous year.
Private equity firm JC Flowers led the first tranche, which included Amadeus Capital Partners, HPE Growth, Blumberg Capital, Värde Partners and private investor Peter Thiel. The company’s other investors include Point Nine Capital and Global Founders Capital.