Led · Equity · Jan 2024

Billink provides a BNPL payment solution where consumers pay only after they receive purchases, operating in the Benelux and trusted by 3 million shoppers and 3,000+ webshops. Since its first BNPL transaction in 2012, the service has also been used by around 20% of companies registered in the Dutch Chamber of Commerce. The company touts high customer retention, a 4.7 Trustpilot rating, and a local-market focus in the Benelux. Billink plans to expand its offering to the top 50 largest Benelux webshops and to enter the German market. It is developing Billink Check-out 2.0 to personalize the customer experience and is building its own AI application to help webshops optimize conversion. The company raised new funding to free up working capital and accelerate these product and geographic expansion plans.

Participated · Equity · Feb 2022

Fintern operates a consumer lending platform launched in March 2021 that aims to replace legacy credit‑scoring methods and expand access to affordable credit for underserved borrowers. The company processes loan applications and reports having handled more than 50,000 applications to date. It targets people in the UK who face high borrowing costs under traditional scoring systems, citing over 15 million affected consumers. Fintern also provides its credit technology to partners and plans to launch B2B partnerships. The startup intends to use new funding to grow its UK presence and build its team. Its stated mission is to deliver materially improved outcomes for consumers through its platform. Fintern operates an AI-driven consumer lending platform that evaluates an applicant's total financial situation—income, outgoings, current repayments, and repayment history—rather than relying solely on credit scores. It offers personal loans from £500 to £5,000 with terms up to three years and a variable APR of 18.8%. The company publicly launched last month and says it can increase approval rates and lower APRs to broaden access to affordable credit. Fintern aims to provide £1 billion in consumer loans by 2025. The business was co-founded in 2020 by Gerald Chappell (formerly at KPMG, Ernst & Young, and McKinsey) and Dr. Michelle He (formerly at Ernst & Young). The company recently secured financing to accelerate growth, combining equity and debt to support its lending expansion.

Participated · Seed · Jan 2022

Banxware is a Berlin-based fintech founded in 2020 that provides embedded lending solutions enabling platform-based businesses, fintechs and banks to offer loans to SME customers. The company powers financing on roughly 30 platforms in Germany and the Netherlands and counts partners such as Worldline (Payone), JustEat Takeaway (Lieferando), Qonto, SumUp and Agicap. Banxware employs more than 50 people and targets the underserved long-tail SME market by delivering on-demand financing where businesses manage their operations. The startup recently raised an equity round exceeding €15 million, which will be used to expand coverage into other European markets and to launch additional products addressing more customer segments. The round also creates potential for a strategic partnership with UniCredit and HypoVereinsbank to expand SME lending in Germany and abroad. Existing investors including 13books Capital, VR Ventures, D4 Ventures and Force over Mass increased their commitment in the round. Banxware, founded in 2020 and based in Berlin, operates a lending-as-a-service platform that enables marketplaces and aggregators to offer loans to their customers. The company delivers working capital to small and medium businesses by providing revenue-based financing with repayments tied to customer revenues and risk-based pricing. Current loan sizes range from €3,000 ($3,400) to €50,000 ($57,000), with plans to offer loans up to €200,000 ($267,000) as clients grow. Banxware integrates directly with a German savings bank to deliver financing and works with partners such as Penta, Takeaway.com, and Payone. Management cites improved regulation (PSD2) and real-time credit scoring as tailwinds for customer acquisition. The startup plans to expand its product suite, grow internationally across Europe, and increase headcount to around 70 employees by year-end. To date the company has raised $20 million in total funding. Banxware provides embedded finance primarily as instant loans for SMEs through white-label APIs and partnerships with marketplaces, payments providers and other platforms. Its core product is an instant lending tool that includes AML/KYC compliance and a scoring engine analyzing historic platform data and third-party sources to enable loan decisions and payouts in less than 15 minutes. The company acts as a link between banks (lenders), digital platforms and merchants, enabling banks to reach SME customers while platforms can upsell financial products. Banxware works with both balance-sheet lenders and lending vehicles on whose behalf it executes loan decisions; merchants repay via platforms that withhold a percentage of future payouts. The startup launched in December and plans to develop additional embedded financial services, including card-based products, expand its team and pursue international expansion. It currently generates revenue by charging a one-time fee for each loan processed and a one-off customization fee.

Participated · Debt Financing · Oct 2021

Billie is a factoring startup that targets small- and medium-sized enterprises by offering an online platform that enables them to receive immediate payment for open invoices. Its solution combines big data analytics and fully digitalized processes to deliver transparent financing with no hidden fees, paperwork, or physical bank branches. Co-founded by Christian Grobe and Matthias Knecht, the company seeks to alleviate cash-flow constraints for SMEs through a technology-driven approach. Billie plans to use advanced analytics to continuously refine risk assessment and expand the range of invoice-based financing products available on its platform. With fresh capital, the team intends to further develop the platform and accelerate geographic and customer acquisition efforts. The business remains at an early stage; no revenue or user metrics were disclosed in the article. The company’s funding so far comes from prominent European tech investors, underscoring confidence in its growth prospects.

Led · Debt Financing · Jan 2020

Grover operates a subscription-based technology rental service that offers access to over 8,000 tech products, including smartphones, laptops, VR gear, wearables and smart home appliances. The company runs both consumer subscriptions and Grover Business, which handles tech procurement and management for companies. Rentals can be returned free of charge at the end of the rental period, or customers can extend the rental or exchange products. Grover’s service is available in Germany, Austria, the Netherlands and Spain and is distributed through its online/offline partner network, including MediaMarktSaturn. Founded in 2015 and led by CEO Linda Rubin, the company is focused on scaling its subscription and B2B offerings. The article notes Grover intends to use new funding to increase profitability and support further sustainable growth. Grover operates a consumer-tech subscription marketplace that lets users rent, switch, buy, keep, or return over 5,000 tech products on a monthly basis. The platform offers smartphones, laptops, VR gear, wearables and smart home appliances and had more than 800,000 items in circulation and over 1 million devices rented out as of July 2022. Led by CEO Michael Cassau, Grover is expanding its product inventory to grow in existing markets such as Germany, Spain, the Netherlands and Austria, and into new European markets. In 2022 the company expanded in the US, is accelerating its embedded finance strategy with the Grover Card, and plans to launch a new B2B software tool in the US, the Netherlands, Spain and Austria. Grover has added several high-profile board members, including Joanna Coles, Sarah McPhee, Lara Sweet and Colleen DeCourcy. The company has substantial debt financing history in Europe and the USA and is using new funding to expand inventory and market reach. Grover operates a subscription marketplace for consumer electronics, allowing users to rent phones, monitors, scooters and other gadgets instead of buying them outright. The company provides flexible rental terms (one to 18 months) and a one-year purchase option for €1, which about 10% of customers choose; power users may spend up to €60 per month. Grover has developed embedded-finance products such as the Grover Card (built with Solaris Bank) that offers 3% cash back and correlates with higher subscription uptake. Management plans to use new funding to expand device inventory, build more personalization and financial-services tools (including loyalty schemes), and deepen its presence in large markets such as the U.S. Grover reports half a million items available in its catalog, 2 million registered users and 250,000 active customers, and it said subscriptions and business doubled in the past year. The company is positioned around the circular-economy trend and competes with secondary-market players like Back Market. Grover operates a tech rental/subscription marketplace offering monthly subscriptions to over 3,000 new and used electronic products. The company says it has grown to more than 1 million registered users in Europe. It runs an asset-light model where devices are owned centrally and rented to subscribers. Grover launched its US business in September and reports the US operation has already surpassed subscriber targets. The company is using new financing to accelerate expansion of its US business. Recent financings include a large asset-backed facility and prior debt and equity funding to support scale-up. Grover is a Berlin-based subscription platform that lets consumers rent technology on a monthly basis and refurbishes devices to recirculate them. Founded in 2015 by Michael Cassau, the company aims to reduce e-waste through its refurbishing programme. Grover is projecting circulations to grow from 475,000 to 5 million by 2024 and reports year-over-year growth of 2.5x. For the fiscal year it recorded net revenues of €37 million. The company says device recirculation saved 4,000 metric tonnes of CO2 and spared 1,400 tonnes of e-waste from landfills. Grover plans to use new financing to accelerate growth and enter new markets.