Berlin-based FinTech CrossLend (www.crosslend.com) has attracted further prominent investors and announced investments from the LFF (Luxembourg Future Fund) and US-based Fund Promus Ventures.
The Luxembourg Future Fund, which is set up by the European Investment Fund (EIF), part of the European Investment Bank group, and Société Nationale de Crédit et d’Investissement (SNCI), a public-law banking institution specialized in medium and long term financing of Luxembourg based companies, decided to invest in CrossLend, due to the Start-up’s potential impact on the Luxembourg financial landscape, among other factors.
Promus Ventures is a venture capital firm based in Chicago investing in visionary software and hardware companies mostly in the U.S. and Europe. The firm has invested in more than 55 private technology companies, including areas such as artificial intelligence, space, robotics, machine learning, computer vision, VR/AR, connected car, healthtech, fintech, insurance, and others. Promus Ventures focuses mostly on early seed and Series A stage rounds and has invested in such innovative companies as Kensho, Spire, Navdy, AngelList, Mapbox, Rocket Lab, Airware, Layer, June, Swift Navigation, Whoop, CrowdFlower and others.
CrossLend has pioneered the securitisation of individual loans into bonds via a Luxembourg securitisation vehicle. CrossLend is authorized and regulated by the CSSF. CrossLend helps lending banks or alternative lenders by allowing them to partially offload loans via the CrossLend platform on a single loan basis. "CrossLend wants to
help creating such a capital market, by making it possible for investors to join forces with banks to invest in their loans," explains Oliver Schimek, founder and co-CEO at CrossLend.
"To achieve this goal, we've created a platform that enables investments in securitised individual loans. In doing so, we are making banks P2P-capable, while merging the advantages of the P2P approach with banks' traditional strengths - relationships and
data." CrossLend chose Luxembourg as its regulatory home, because Luxembourg is very financial services oriented, naturally international, very open minded towards digitalization and FinTech and very supportive of Start-ups in general. CrossLend is establishing a permanent presence in Luxembourg in order to leverage the well-developed financial services ecosystem, as well as the high level of innovation at professional and academic institutions.
The Chief Executive of EIF, Pier Luigi Gilibert comments: "CrossLend is a most interesting co-investment which will help to strengthen the Fintech industry via the Luxembourg Future Fund. The company's innovative setup for securitising individual loans is effectively creating a new asset class which is very promising. We are excited about helping CrossLend to establish itself as a player in Luxembourg with the prospect of assuming an important role in the European debt capital market."
The Chairman of LFF, Patrick Nickels said: “The Luxembourg Future Fund aims to stimulate the diversification and sustainable development of the Luxembourg economy. This innovative company fits exactly into the scope of our strategic sectors, for example the ICT sector in general, and the Fintech sector in particular.”
Mike Collett, Managing Partner at Promus Ventures, comments on the investment in CrossLend: “As a US-based Venture Capital firm it is often challenging to assess opportunities which innovate in a highly regulated industry in Europe. We are certain that CrossLend can become a game changer in the European and global financial eco-system. CrossLend has the right team to execute its truly grand vision.
About the European Investment Fund
The European Investment Fund (EIF) is part of the European Investment Bank Group. Its central mission is to support Europe's micro, small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) by helping them to access finance. EIF designs and develops venture and growth capital, guarantees and microfinance instruments which specifically target this market segment. In this role, EIF fosters EU objectives in support of innovation, research and development, entrepreneurship, growth, and employment.
The Investment Plan for Europe focuses on breaking down barriers to investment, providing visibility and technical assistance to investment projects and making smart use of new and existing financial resources. More information on EIF's work under EFSI is available here.
EFSI is already seeing results. The projects and agreements approved for financing under EFSI so far are expected to mobilise over EUR 164 billion in total investments across 28 Member States and to support more than 385 000 SMEs. Based on this success, on 14 September 2016 the European Commission proposed extending the Plan, increasing its capacity and duration and reinforcing its strong points. The latest figures on EFSI by sector and country can be found here.
About CrossLend
CrossLend intermediates loans and securitises them into bonds, in which investors can invest via the CrossLend platform. The advantages of single loan securitisation: pan-European investments are possible by means of a uniform securities structure, and can be broadly diversified at a supranational level. A secondary market to be established in the near future will provide a trading venue for the bonds. In addition to the LFF, CME Ventures and Lakestar, CrossLend is financed by several other well-known venture capital companies and business angels - including Northzone and Atlantic Labs. CrossLend is currently active in Germany, Spain, the UK and the Netherlands.
Press Contact:
Ralf-Dieter Brunowsky
BrunoMedia GmbH
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Contact CrossLend GmbH:
pr@crosslend.com
Kemperplatz 1
10785 Berlin
http://www.crosslend.com
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