PUBLISHED: September 26, 2019
Fintech scale-up Qred and investment company Webrock Ventures today announce a joint venture in Brazil. Qred’s digital technology for SME lending will be combined with local expertise and financing from Webrock Ventures and Swedish investment fund manager Atlant Fonder.
“The vast majority of small businesses still lack access to credit in order to invest and grow, despite the Brazilian economy digitizing at full tilt,” says Emil Sunvisson, CEO of Qred.
Adriano Duarte, Co-founder and CEO of the new Brazilian company, adds: “It is important to establish a well-functioning small business financing in Brazil that will foster both individual SME businesses and the nation’s economic development. That’s where we have an important and impactful role to play.”
In partnership with Webrock Ventures, Qred will establish its business model in a country where over 15 million small businesses generate over 25% of the country’s GDP, and SMEs account for 2/3 of all private sector employment.
“We are very excited about this investment, which fits naturally into our portfolio of fast-growing tech companies with Nordic roots in Brazil. Together with Qred and Atlant Fonder, we have great potential to be a viable player in online corporate loans in one of the world’s largest and fastest growing digital economies,” says Joakim Pops, Founding Partner at Webrock Ventures.
The driver behind Qred’s progress in Europe is a fully digital application process integrated with scores of sources of credit data, combined with with high-touch personal service. This has allowed Qred, since its 2015 inception, to quickly expand from Sweden to Finland, Denmark and the Netherlands.
“Qred has shown that loans to small companies provide very strong risk-adjusted returns with a low correlation to the fixed income and equity markets. Demand for this type of asset is growing rapidly and we see great potential to increase exposure to Brazil,” says Taner Pikdöken, manager of Atlant Fonder.