“We connect companies that need financing with savers who want to grow their money”
We are in an emerging market that is developing at a good pace and that has the potential for growth and development.
October, formerly known as Lendix, is a financing platform for small and medium-sized companies that operate in Paris, Madrid, and Milan and allows companies to request financing from private and institutional investors. The digitalization of financial systems has opened the way to new financing formulas.
The new digital culture that favors the collective in favor of the development of any business has been raised as a real alternative when looking for liquidity and a complementary solution. In this new scenario, participatory financing platforms have reached the market in a regulated manner thanks to the Law for the Promotion of Business Financing and the CNMV to facilitate the flow of money collectively.
For example, October facilitates loans of € 30,000. 5 million euros and with a maturity of up to 7 years thanks to its hybrid model of private and institutional investors. The platforms offer a quick and agile solution to the companies in an online way, without unnecessary paperwork or small print and without asking for real guarantees or linked products. What is really evaluated is the capacity to pay the debt of the companies that request a loan.
Yes, companies have to be profitable, and in the case of October, they are required to bill over 250,000 euros. The novelty lies in that we connect companies that need financing with savers who want to grow their money. That is to say that we accelerate the obtaining of financing by the companies and we give the power of choice and participation in the real economy to the investors.
This new system would not be possible without the technological advances that have been incorporated into the financial world, which facilitate a quick assessment of the ability to pay the debt of companies that request a loan, as well as the development of the platform itself. allows this connection between companies and investors. Evangelization is fundamental. Since October, we believe that institutions, banks, and even large business groups should participate in this process to show the path of diversifying sources of financing for SMEs.
Throughout 2018, we have seen that the European Investment Bank Group (EIB), through the European Investment Fund (EIF), and other large companies decided to invest in the European long-term investment funds (ELTIF) of 200 million euros launched by October to finance Spanish and European SMEs. , large European groups, such as Allianz, JCDecaux, Engie, and AccorHotels are participating in the Grow Together initiative that October has launched for the SME ecosystem to have access to new sources of funding.
And finally, in November, the first collaboration agreement between a banking entity and a crowdlending fintech was achieved, which was carried out by October and Liberbank with the aim of promoting financing for SMEs. According to a study carried out by CapGemini and Linkedin in 2017, Spain was among the main countries in the use of Fintech services.
And according to Finnova’s FinTech Innovation and Trends Observatory, the growth of Fintech’s companies is unstoppable in Spain. Only in the first quarter of 2018 there was a 53% growth in the number of companies dedicated to this sector in Spain. These data make us see that we are in an emerging market that is developing at a good pace and that has potential for growth and development.
Do not forget that financial technology is a relatively new area that will progress as technology allows and that the legislation adapts to the needs of a society that is constantly changing. The name change has been given to root of our last round of financing and with the aim of strengthening our international expansion, for which we needed a new identity, easy to understand and memorize in all languages.
This new image reflects the spirit of October: a technology company with a European heart which seeks to become a strategic partner of companies at key moments of their growth. We are confident that this new stage will boost our activity and that is why we have used the name change as a milestone to launch the platform in the Netherlands, which means an increase in the company’s ability to generate loans at European level.
In addition, in the Spanish market, we hope to continue to grow and better serve medium-sized companies in the acute growth phase.