Christoph Rieche

iwoca to receive €100m from Insight Investment to serve thousands of German SMEs




iwoca has partnered with global asset manager Insight Investment to provide €100m (approximately £83.4m) to SMEs across Germany.

The business lender — which is aiming to fund one million SMEs — will look to double its headcount at its Frankfurt office to 100 employees, in addition to creating 100 new jobs at its Leeds office over the next couple of years.

iwoca has already issued more than €1bn (approximately £834m) in loans to SMEs, primarily in the UK and Germany, and will see the overall amount of equity and debt finance raised total more than €500m (approximately £417m).

“…Many [small businesses] suffer from poor access to finance as traditional lenders can’t support them the way they need it,” claimed Christoph Rieche, co-founder and CEO at iwoca (pictured above).

“Our mission is to change that.

“With Insight Investment, we have found a very agile and responsive partner that complements our mission-driven way of working.

“It provides the perfect basis for us to enter a new phase of growth in Germany.”

Shaheer Guirguis, head of secured finance at Insight Investment, added: “Our team is always looking for opportunities to expand our investment universe to new frontiers, in collaboration with high-quality partners.

“This investment in iwoca’s fintech loans allows us to diversify into a new sector in Europe’s largest economy and we believe it also provides our clients with diversification and high-quality cash flow streams.

“iwoca is at the forefront of this emerging sector and we are pleased to help it support German small businesses.”

Leave a comment