UniCredit provides 10 million euros to Banxware in funding
In a significant move for the European Fintech landscape, Banxware, a Berlin-based company specializing in Embedded Lending and Lending-as-a-Service, has secured a strategic €10 million investment from UniCredit. This investment will fuel Banxware's growth phase, as the company aims to revolutionize Small and Medium-sized Enterprise (SME) lending across Europe.
Founded by Lars-Thorben Niggehoff, a freelance journalist and the founder of journalism bureau dreimaldrei, Banxware writes about financial topics, SMEs, and the real estate market for various publications. The company's main focus is on the Forward-Flow Model, a business approach in SME lending that emphasizes continuous, automated, and scalable financing processes.
This model, a collaboration between Banxware and BaaS platform Aion/Vodeno, leverages AI-powered underwriting and fully digitalized operations to deliver efficient and lender-independent embedded lending solutions. It allows Banxware to offer tailored financing in real time through digital platforms such as marketplaces and payment service providers across Europe.
The Forward-Flow Model has a profound impact on Banxware’s operations in Europe. It enables faster and more scalable lending, reducing the time needed to onboard new banking partners or enter new markets. Banxware's digital application process enables faster credit decisions, even for larger sums, as demonstrated by their quick launch in the Netherlands after integrating with Atlar’s API technology.
The model also supports automated core payment flows, treasury payments, and loan repayments, improving operational efficiency by minimizing manual intervention and error risks. This results in quicker credit risk management and more streamlined financial workflows.
Moreover, Banxware’s use of a single API and dashboard to orchestrate multi-bank and multi-currency setups simplifies treasury operations and facilitates rapid expansion across European markets, thereby accelerating time-to-market for new embedded finance offerings.
This approach positions Banxware as a leader in embedded lending, allowing them to empower digital platforms and their business customers with seamless, embedded financial products across Europe. UniCredit, recognizing Banxware's potential, will fully assume the loan portfolio, with Banxware acting as the orchestrator of loan disbursement.
Fiona Melrose, Group Strategy & ESG at UniCredit, considers Banxware's partnership as a key one due to its combination of Fintech agility and the reach of a large bank. Jens Röhrborn, CEO of Banxware, states that they are not just scaling, but creating a new infrastructure level for corporate lending in Europe.
With the new investment and the implementation of the Forward-Flow Model, Banxware aims to expand further in Europe, providing faster, more efficient, and more scalable lending solutions to SMEs across the continent.
- The investment of €10 million from UniCredit, being directed towards Banxware, will aid in the development of their business model, specifically in the technology-driven sector of finance, as they seek to revolutionize Small and Medium-sized Enterprise (SME) lending across Europe using the Forward-Flow Model.
- Banxware's collaboration with technology platforms, such as Aion/Vodeno, enables them to offer tailored financing solutions of which the Forward-Flow Model is a part, leveraging AI-powered underwriting and digitalized operations for efficient and lender-independent embedded lending solutions, thereby expanding their footprint in the European Fintech landscape.
