European Investment Bank backs Lithuanian fintech startup SME Finance with €80 million

European Investment Bank backs Lithuanian fintech startup SME Finance with €80 million

Vilnius, Lithuania-based lender SME Finance has received €80 million in backing from the European Investment Bank to support small and medium-sized businesses across the Baltic region.

SME Finance, which provides a fintech platform for non-banking financing in the Baltic states, says it will use the investment to meet the working capital financing needs of enterprises through its self-service factoring platform.

The company recently announced that it would be opening a neobank for business clients, which it intends to have operational by mid-2021.

"Given the current working capital constraints facing small and medium-sized enterprises and the substantially reduced availability of bank loans in the region, this is a timely and much-needed partnership of next-generation financial technology with public financing that will enable SMEs and midcaps across the Baltics to more quickly access financing to overcome their cash flow shortages," commented the CEO of SME Finance, Mindaugas Mikalajūnas, on the news.

The first wave of funding from the EIB is expected to reach businesses by the first half of 2021.

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