smava Receives $65 Million Investment Led by Vitruvian Partners

BERLIN, January 9, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

• Vitruvian Partners and other investors are investing $65 million into smava
• The new investment will further accelerate smava's product innovation and enhance the company's offering to consumers and lenders alike
• smava, Germany's largest independent consumer loan portal, has originated over $3 billion in loans through its platform

smava, Germany's largest independent consumer loan portal, today announced that it has closed a $65 million investment which is led by growth private equity firm Vitruvian Partners, with additional participation from other investors including Runa Capital. Vitruvian is an independent European private equity firm which invests into technology growth companies. Jussi Wuoristo, Partner at Vitruvian Partners will join the advisory board of smava.

"We are dedicated to executing our mission to make personal loans transparent, fair and affordable for consumers," says Alexander Artopé, CEO and co-founder of smava. "The new capital will allow us to better serve consumers, continue developing our scoring technology and to expand into new market segments. We are thrilled about Vitruvian Partners joining smava. Vitruvian will bring deep expertise from successfully working with fast growing consumer marketplaces and we also share a common vision for smava and the industry we operate in. We are also grateful for the continued commitment of Runa Capital, as well as that of our other longstanding investors Verdane Capital and Earlybird."

"We are delighted and excited to be backing a company that is instrumental in transforming the financial services industry in Germany," said Jussi Wuoristo, Partner at Vitruvian Partners. "As a thought leader in this space, smava has proven that its marketplace model combined with continuous technological innovation materially enhances the experience and alternatives available to consumers. smava also adds significant value to the product providers by offering an attractive direct online channel to high quality prime customers. The online penetration for personal loans continues to grow fast in Germany and smava is uniquely positioned to accelerate and benefit from this trend. We look forward to working with Alexander and his team."

smava is the only loan portal in Germany which offers a transparent market overview of 70 loan offers, both third-party loans from over 25 banks as well as loans which are funded by private lenders. In this way, borrowers can choose the deal most favourable to them and save up to €2,000. smava has developed and continuously refined its proprietary credit scoring technology since 2007. With this, the company established a superior platform to bring together borrowers and lenders in offering the most attractive rates for each borrower.

About smava.de

Germany's leading loan portal makes personal loans transparent, fair and affordable for consumers. Based on digital processes, smava provides a market overview of 70 loan offers from 25 banks, ranging in value from €1,000 to €120,000. In this way, borrowers can choose and conclude the deal most favourable to them. With an average loan value of more than €10,000, borrowers can save up to €2,000. In 2017, the volume of loans originated through smava was c. $1.5 billion, with a total of more than $3 billion since inception. As one of the largest fintech businesses in Germany, smava employs 300 staff with 36 nationalities under the direction of an experienced management team with strong backgrounds in finance and technology. The company is based in Berlin. To date, highly renowned investors such as Vitruvian, Verdane Capital, Runa Capital and Earlybird have invested a total of $135 million in smava. For more information, visit the website https://www.smava.de/ .

About Vitruvian Partners

Vitruvian is an independent European private equity firm which specializes in 'dynamic situations' - investments in companies undergoing growth and change typically driven by technology. Vitruvian helps portfolio companies scale their operations by providing an operational support system and assistance with strategic initiatives including acquisitions. Notable investments to date include global market leaders in their field such as Just Eat, Farfetch, Skyscanner, Snow Software, CRF Health, Trustpilot, Voxbone, Callcredit, Ebury and others.

In June 2017, Vitruvian announced that it had completed the fundraising of its third fund. The €2.4 billion Vitruvian Investment Partnership III ("VIP III") is among the largest pools of capital in Europe supporting innovative and higher growth companies. Vitruvian has backed 30 companies in its first two funds and has assets under management of approximately €5 billion. Vitruvian has offices in London, Munich, Stockholm, Luxembourg and San Francisco.

More information can be found at: http://www.vitruvianpartners.com

For further information, please contact:

Press contact smava:
markengold PR GmbH
Katarzyna Rezza Vega
Münzstr. 18
10178 Berlin
Tel.: +49(0)30-21915960
smava.de@markengold.de