Italy’s Intesa Sanpaolo Group has made an undisclosed investment in FinTech SME lender iwoca who will provide Intesa’s SME clients with credit products to bridge the funding gap and support growth.
The strategic partnership will leverage iwoca’s SME lending platform and Intesa’s ‘expertise’ in building banking operations across Italy, Central Europe, Eastern Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. It coincides with an investment in iwoca by Neva Finventures, Intesa Sanpaolo’s FinTech venture capital arm.
Christoph Rieche, co-founder and CEO of iwoca, said: “To date, iwoca has been able to support over 10,000 small businesses with operations across the UK and mainland Europe. We are excited that Intesa Sanpaolo recognised the value of the technology we’ve built and will use it as part of their SME lending operations in the future.”
Maurizio Montagnese, chief innovation officer at the Intesa Sanpaolo Group, said: “Investing in iwoca is of strategic importance to us in that it strengthens the Intesa Sanpaolo Group's position in the area of new business models, and specifically in highly innovative digital financial services. The industrial synergies between iwoca and Intesa Sanpaolo could be significant in the coming years and allow the Intesa Sanpaolo Group to enter segments of the market not served by other banks.”
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