CapitalBox accelerates European expansion with Spotcap NL acquisition

By Megha Bhattacharya

Pan-European SME funding platform, CapitalBox today announced the acquisition of the Netherlands division of Spotcap Global. Spotcap NL is an online SME lender in the Dutch market and is expected to help CapitalBox to further its ongoing  European expansion. The acquisition will build on CapitalBox’s footprint and offer access to 1.1 million SMEs in the Netherlands.

Scott Donnelly, CEO at CapitalBox, said, “Spotcap has built a great business in the Netherlands. By merging our knowledge and the teams, we will be stronger than ever and do a better job financing SMEs who want to grow. This is especially important when our economies transition back to normality, and conventional banks continue to underserve the vitally important SME segment. ”

“The smaller SMEs we serve are truly the backbone of the economy. In the EU about 98% of companies have less than 50 employees, and these provide about 50% of the jobs. The better we can help them with the financing they need to succeed the better off we all are.”

CapitalBox issues loans to SMEs of up to 350,000 euros for 36 months, in as fast as one day via its lending platform. Currently, it offers SME FinTech lending in six European markets – the Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, UK, and Lithuania.

The company stated that the acquisition of Spotcap NL would offer access to a new segment of larger sized companies who are also underserved by conventional banks. CapitalBox will gain access to Spotcap NL’s market knowledge, existing network, and its underwriting expertise. Spotcap NL will continue under CapitalBox’s name and brand.

Jens Woloszczak, CEO at Spotcap Global and Christian Müller, CFO at Spotcap Global, added,
“The sale of Spotcap NL marks our final step in focussing Spotcap Global on Lending-as-a-Service via our LendSuite proposition. This separation from Spotcap NL enables both the Direct Lending and Lending-as-a-Service side of the business to concentrate on what they are best in – providing high-quality solutions and an outstanding level of service to their customers.”

“We see CapitalBox as the ideal acquirer of Spotcap NL to further grow the business and realize its potential over the coming years. The ongoing combination of expertise and technology will further solidify the strong market position translating into better funding options for Dutch SMEs.”