launch

Rocket Internet Launches Second P2P Lending Service: Zencap

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Rocket Internet, the venture fund of the Samwer brothers, launches a second p2p lending service (after Lendico in December). Zencap will facilitate loans from 10,000 to 150,000 Euro to companies. To qualifiy the company has to be trading for at least two years, have solid financials and total revenue of more than a 100,000 Euro. Nominal interest rates range from 4 to 14.6%. Zencap charges borrowers 1 to 4.5% origination fees (dependant on loan term; possible are 6 to 60 months). Lenders can start lending with 100 Euro and are charged 1% or all repayments. Zencap expects default rates between 0% and 10% depending on credit grade.

Christian Grobe, founder and CEO of Zencap says (translation from German original): “About 99% of all companies in Germany are SMEs, who together generate yearly revenues of over 2000 billion Euro. SMEs are the backbone of the German economy. Getting loans is a long and bureaucratice process for these companies, often ending in frustration, since 20% of all loan negotiations with German banks fail (source: KfW-Mittelstandspanel). We want to remove these hurdles with Zencap and offer SMEs an easy and unbureaucratic altenative to banks.”


Zencap founders Dr. Christian Grobe und Dr. Matthias Knecht, both previously worked at McKinsey & Company (photo source: Zencap)

Lendico Launches P2P Lending in Austria

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Today Lendico launched the p2p lending service in Austria. It is the fourth country Lendico enters after Germany, Spain and Poland. Austria is pristine territory for p2p lending. Up to now no services were available to Austrian borrowers. Interest rates range from 2.99% to 15.99% (comparable to Lendico Germany) depending on credit grade. Loans are possible up to 25,000 Euro for terms between 1 and 5 years. Lendico uses services of CRIF and Austrian Post for identification and credit rating.
Right now there are 3 loan listings online.

P2P Lending Service Lendico Launches in Poland

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Today Lendico launched its p2p lending service in Poland. Poland is the third market Lendico serves, after Germany and Spain. Loan amounts can be between 1,000 and 50,000 PLN (approx 16,400 US$). Loan terms are from 1 to 5 years and interest rates range from 5.82% to 14.99%. Currently there are 8 open loan listings. Lendico maintains an office in Warsaw. There are already other p2p lending service operating in Poland (e.g. Kokos and Finansowo – which in 2010 merged with Smava Poland).

From the polish press release:

Na polskim rynku finansowym pojawił się nowy gracz: Lendico. To nowoczesna platforma pożyczek społecznościowych, która w bezpieczny sposób łączy pożyczkobiorców z osobami zainteresowanymi korzystną lokatą własnego kapitału. Dzięki temu pozwala uzyskiwać pożyczki na korzystnych warunkach oraz daje perspektywy inwestycji o wysokiej stopie zwrotu. W ten sposób Lendico oferuje produkt niedostępny dla klientów tradycyjnych banków.


Lendico Poland screenshot taken today

Lendico Launches P2P Lending in Spain

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German p2p lending service Lendico will launch tomorrow in the Spanish market. ‘Spain is an attractive market with great potential due to the credit crunch since 2007,’ says CEO Dominik Steinkühler. Maximum possible loan amount is 25,000 EUR, offered at between 6.29% and 25% APR.

‘Lendico poses a direct threat to the comfortable position of traditional banks in the market. From the beginning Lendico was developed as a digital alternative to the banks,’ says Steinkühler.

The safeguards and regulations are similar to those of any bank. Lendico is a member of the National Association of Financial Credit (ASNEF) Establishments and works directly with Equifax for risk management and control of delinquency.

As reported earlier, all registered Lendico lenders, not just Spanish residents, will be able to lend.

Spain is the first international market Lendico expands into after launching in Germany in December 2013. While some functions are operated from the Berlin head office there is also an office in Madrid there. And Lendico says the team in Madrid is working on launching the service in South America.

P2P Lending Service Lending Works Launches

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P2P lending service Lending Works launched today. The service says its unique selling proposition is that it offers lenders actual insurance and thereby more protection than the provision funds scheme major UK competitors like Zopa and Ratesetter do offer. Reading the fine print, there is insurance, but capped at 10% bad debt, which should be sufficient in the current market situation: ‘The Lending Works Shield provides cover of up to 10% of all Lending Works loans and so provides a market leading 17 times cover‘ [compared to a stated 0.58% industry wide personal loan borrower default rate]. Lending Works is open to UK residents with a UK bank account.

I also noted that Lending Works allows lenders the option to exit their investment prior to the loan duration if they accept a fee of 0.6% (or 20 GBP) whichever is greater.

Available loan terms range from 1 to 5 years.

Lending Works says it has raised 3.5 million GBP prior to launch.