French RFB player Silvr slices off a sliver of German market via Uplift1 acquisition

There was a time when it seemed like you couldn’t swing a dead cat and not run into one RBF player entering the market with a somewhat large amount of usually debt funding backing announcement. So prevalent was the case, that I even started casually tracking these players that I’d written about via an ongoing spreadsheet that defines terms and conditions offered by the non-dilutive funding companies.

And while Berlin-based Uplift1 never made it under my fingers upon this very keyboard, they certainly did catch the attention of Parisian startup Slivr, so much so that the formal announcement of the latter's acquisition (the deal was finalised at the end of February) of the former was made public yesterday.

While the terms, conditions, and actual amount changing hands remain undisclosed, according to a statement issued by Slivr, the acquisition saw the addition of 7 new silvrnauts (clever) to the team.

“The merger with Uplift1 provides us with the optimal starting position,” said Silvr CEO Nima Karimi. “Ariyan Seyed Nassir, founder of Uplift1, was one of the first to establish the RBF model in Germany. By acquiring Uplift1, existing customers will benefit from a partnership with Silvr that is even more impactful, both technologically and financially."

In early January 2022, Silvr announced a raise of €130 million in a Series A funding round that saw XAnge lead the round with notable backers including Luko co-founder and CEO Raphael Vullierme, CEO and co-founder of Libeo Pierre Dutaret, Qonto CEO and co-founder Alexandre Prot, and Eurazeo participate. Of the €130 million raised, it should be noted that the majority of the round (€112 million) was offered up as debt funding, which makes sense, as it provided Silvr with working capital to provide to other founders working down the chain.