fellow finance

Fellow Finance Adds SME Loans

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Fellow Finance logoFinnish p2p lending marketplace Fellow Finance now also offers SME loans.

In the service, companies can apply for financing for growth and investments from Fellow Finance’s investors.. Fellow Finance has intermediated loans for consumers through its service for 40 million EUR during a period of 12 months. Opening a financing service for companies stems from the needs of Fellow Finance customers and with the new Crowdfunding Act established legal framework for the operation has been established.

I checked the marketplace. Right now there is one loan request for 70,000 Euro at 11% interest rate, 60 month term listed.

‘We have already received requests and inquiries from our clientele for a long time about whether we could also start financing companies. Many of our customers are either current or former entrepreneurs who understand the financing challenges faced by Finnish SMEs in different phases of business. They have a strong desire to finance other entrepreneurs and offer promising projects the chance to really take off’, says Jouni Hintikka, CEO of Fellow Finance. Continue reading →

Fellow Finance Expands to Poland

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P2P lending marketplace Fellow Finance is now open for borrowers in Poland. Polish customers can now apply for peer-to-peer loans with maturity from 1 to 3 years up to 12 000 PLN. For Fellow Finance investors this gives an opportunity to diversify their investments geographically and in two currencies (EUR and PLN) with single consolidated user interface and reporting in investor’s own preferred currency. The ability to operate in multiple currencies also enables Fellow Finance to scale its platform to new geographies swiftly in the future.

‘Poland is a huge market in Europe with 38 million people. The Polish economy is one of the fastest growing in Europe. Consumer and consumption behavior are changing with the expanding economy. Mobile penetration and online lending have seen a fast and continuous growth in the last 4 years. Launching operations in Poland makes Fellow Finance a genuine international platform where investors can easily do direct investments in consumer loans across geographies and in multiple currencies. …’ says Jouni Hintikka, CEO of Fellow Finance. Continue reading →

Taaleritehdas becomes an owner of the P2P lending company Fellow Finance

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Taaleritehdas invested 2 million EUR in the peer-to-peer (P2P) lending company Fellow Finance Oy and, at the same time, sold the entire stock of its Financing Company Lainaamo Ltd to Fellow Finance Oy as a share exchange. Lainaamo has a consumer credit portfolio of approximately 20 million EUR  with thousands of consumer customers. After the acquisition, Taaleritehdas owns 38.4% of Fellow Finance Oy. In addition, Taaleritehdas has an option to increase its holding in the company by 7.3%.
Fellow Finance’s founders, Jouni Hintikka and Teemu Nyholm, each own 18.4% of the company. In total, Fellow Finance key persons have a 57.3% holding in the company.

According to its vision, Taaleritehdas aims to develop the Finnish capital market. Taaleritehdas believes that increased direct financing will be one of the most significant changes in the finance industry in the future. The focus in financing will increasingly shift from the bank-centric approach towards direct financing. Another strong megatrend in the financing sector, as seen by Taaleritehdas, is digitalisation. Both Fellow Finance and Lainaamo offer their services completely online. Ownership of Fellow Finance enables Taaleritehdas to offer its customers a new investment form and to utilise digitalisation in its own activities, as well. The merger of Lainaamo and Fellow Finance will not affect the position of borrower
customers or investors. Continue reading →