finmid, an embedded finance provider, this week announced that its embedded lending infrastructure is now available in 30 European markets, giving access to 32 million SMES across the region. finmid has added Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, France, Hungary, Ireland, Malta, Romania, Iceland and Switzerland to the list of countries it is serving.
Historically, platforms struggled to offer financing across Europe due to a complex patchwork of local regulations and infrastructure. This created an uneven playing field, where a company’s access to capital was determined by its location, not its growth potential. But finmid’s single financial layer for the single market achieves a goal that EU regulators and policymakers have struggled with for decades.
“Europe’s dream of a single market has been held back by a financial system that stops at borders,” said Alexander Talkanitsa, co-founder of finmid. “Embedded lending has always had the potential to change that, but the reality was fragmented and slow. With this rollout, any platform can, for the first time, offer capital to its customers everywhere in Europe. This changes the game. With this barrier removed, the next decade of growth for European SMEs is made possible on a region-wide scale.”
Closing Europe’s €400bn financing gap
Embedded lending has become a lifeline for small businesses in recent years, with the decline of local banking networks and traditional lenders still relying on outdated credit scoring. Difficulties in securing finance have created a €400bn financing gap for Europe’s SMEs. finmid’s integration gives platforms the ability to extend capital to new markets on equal terms, no matter where businesses are based, at the touch of a button.
“At finmid we’re solving the problems that hold back SME businesses, often small family-run companies, from growing, even when demand for their product is there,” said co-founder Max Schertel. “I’ve never been prouder than seeing the companies we support able to open new premises or buy essential equipment. finmid’s embedded finance is not only achieving the key European ambition of a borderless, single financial layer for the single market but delivering for those businesses that create jobs and deliver prosperity.”
Since launch, finmid has extended more than €4 billion in capital offers to European SMEs via partners including Wolt, Glovo (Delivery Hero), and Bolt. Data from its network has shown that platforms offering its embedded finance can increase gross merchandise value by up to 45% and reduce churn by 70%. However, fewer than one in ten SMEs benefit from embedded lending, but finmid’s technology could make it easier for many more underserved small businesses to increase revenues by giving them access to capital on terms that suit their cashflow.
Existing partners Wolt and Glovo are already planning to extend their financing solutions in the newly enabled markets.
“For us at Wolt, the success of our merchants is at the heart of what we do,” says Anniina Heinonen, managing director of payments at Wolt. “We’re always looking for new ways to empower them, and access to additional financing has been a clear need across many of our markets. By working with finmid, we can now meet that need and help local businesses across Europe grow without delays.”