As part of a new multi-million pound round of funding, Commerzbank has pumped in more cash into London fintech startup Iwoca. The German bank’s venture capital arm CommerzVentures is one of the investors in the £21 million series C round. Last year, they participated in a £15.7 million series B funding round.
Iwoca also witnessed the joining of a new investor – Prime Ventures. This firm led the latest funding round, bringing total equity funding for the startup to £38 million. Also participating in the round were previous investors Acton Capital Partners, Global Founders Capital and Redline Capital, who pitched in money alongside Commerzbank. It has also raised £25 million in debt financing led by Shawbrook.
Iwoca is a five year old startup that lends to small businesses. In its relatively short span of activity, it managed to achieve quite a bit, getting itself into the Fintech50 rankings earlier this year, and being named one of London’s hottest fintech startups. This new influx of cash will only bring the startup’s ambitious momentum to skyrocket proportions, and help it along in its plans to expand in the UK and across Europe where it operates in Germany, Poland and Spain.
Chief executive and co-founder Christophe Rieche, speaking on these new developments, said,
We’ve already been able to support 7,000 small businesses but we aim to finance at least a million customers over the next decade. This investment gives us the firepower we need to achieve our mission.
In a comment cited on City AM, CommerzVentures managing director Patrick Meisberger said,
Iwoca is fundamentaly transforming the lending landscape. It was an easy decision to participate in this round and we will continue to work closely with the management team to find innovative ways to support the ever-growing financing needs of small businesses. We see extraordinary growth ahead.
The road ahead is paved with gold for FinTech in the UK!
