Do not invest more money than you can afford to lose.
smava, a German lending marketplace lender, has raised $34 million in a funding round led by Russian tech-focused venture capital fund Runa Capital, the platform said over the weekend. Other investors also took part in the financing, including Sweden’s Verdane Capital, Luxembourg’s mojo.capital and existing investors including Germany’s Earlybird Venture Capital.
With the proceeds, the smava platform will further enhance its technology solutions and strengthen its market position.
Andre Bliznyuk, Partner at Runa Capital, and Hendrik Aspen, Partner at Verdane Capital will join the advisory board of smava.
“We are thrilled about Runa Capital, Verdane Capital and mojo.capital joining smava,” said Alexander Artope, CEO and co-founder of smava. “The new capital will allow us to expand our customer base, hire additional talent and continue enhancing our scoring technology,” he added.
Smava is a platform for personal loans provided by banks and private investors through peer-to-peer (P2P) lending. Loans range from a minimum €1,000 to up to €120,000. So fare, more than $1.75 billion in loans have been originated through the platform.
Runa Capital, the main investor in the smava funding round, has also financed a number of other renown fintech companies, including P2P lenders Zopa and Lendingrobot and business loan provider Lendio.
“We are excited to partner with smava and to invest in a platform that is transforming how prime consumers borrow money,” said Bliznyuk. “There are a lot of personal loan offers in Germany, but they are neither convenient nor priced attractively enough for prime customers. […] And smava does not just have a vision, they are already providing thousands of prime consumers with personal loans every month,” he added.