Japan based Rakuten invests $10 4 million in German fintech startup
Japanese e-commerce company Rakuten has made a 10 million euro ($10.4 million) investment in Kreditech, a German financial technology startup that uses big data technology to assess the creditworthiness of potential borrowers with little or no conventional credit history.
The Hamburg-based company said on Thursday that it will use the investment from Rakuten's FinTech Fund to expand its business that partners with other companies to provide lending services.
As part of these efforts, it is in discussions with banks interested in offering digital personal loan products to their customer base, but "lack technical capabilities to do so," said Rene Griemens, Kreditech's chief financial officer.
The company is also assessing potential collaboration opportunities with Rakuten.
"We are already evaluating potential strategic cooperation in many areas, including payments, financing and potentially, at a later stage point of sale financing," Griemens said.
The investment brings Kreditech's total equity funding raised since launch to 135 million euros ($140.78 million). In September 2015, it raised 82.5 million euros ($86.03 million) in a round led by private equity firm J.C. Flowers.
Other backers include PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel and venture capital firms Amadeus Capital Partners, Varde Partners, HPE Growth Capital and Blumberg Capital.