Transaction enables strategic partnership in the German market and beyond
First investment made by the newly founded UCG Strategic Investment Team
UniCredit has invested in Berlin-based embedded lending provider Banxware as part of the fintech's latest equity round. This highlights the ambition of UniCredit to collaborate with the fintech in Germany and beyond, as part of its aim to expand lending offering to existing business customers and tap into a new customer base.
Banxware currently enables 30 platforms in Germany and the Netherlands to offer financing to their business customers, closing a crucial gap in the underserved long-tail SME market. Customers are platforms like Worldline (Payone), JustEat Takeaway (Lieferando), Qonto, SumUp, Agicap, and others. Business customers can effortlessly obtain financing quickly and easily, right where they manage their business activities.
As part of UniCredit Unlocked objectives, UniCredit is supporting direct investments in companies that can accelerate its transformation journey. The Group is focusing on players with state-of-the-art technology, which provide digital capabilities and deploy new business models to better serve clients and attract new ones, improve internal practices and accelerate the achievement of targets.
The transaction has been managed by the new Strategic Investment Team, part of Group Strategy & ESG, which explores investment opportunities.
Fiona Melrose, Head of Group Strategy & ESG at UniCredit, said: "This investment underlines our ambition to further enhance the Group's technological and digital drive to the benefit of our customers. With Banxware's financing solutions we can broaden our lending proposition and complement our existing offering for SME clients, also gaining access to a new customer base. Partnerships of this kind, that could be extended to other geographies, always offer opportunities to exchange ideas, learn from each other and jointly develop new areas of business."
Milan, 30 November 2023
Contacts:
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