Vilnius-based Softloans, a fintech startup specialising in embedded lending technology for business growth, has secured €1M in a pre-seed funding round aimed at transforming small business lending.
The investment was led by venture capital fund Firstpick, alongside strategic contributions from business angels.
Lending technology to help businesses grow
Founded by Audrius Griškevičius, Edmundas Kevisas and Aleksandras Kunickas, Softloans offers embedded revenue-based lending technology for SMEs in the e-commerce sector.
The company’s solution helps smaller businesses access capital and compete with larger e-commerce players by integrating lending services into digital platforms like marketplaces and payment providers.
Co-founder Griškevičius says, “The embedded financing tool we have developed works in such a way that the loan can be easily obtained by small and medium-sized businesses on other digital platforms that they use for their activities.”
“The Softloans solution assesses the risks and creditworthiness of any e-shop extremely quickly and accurately. After the loan is issued, the solution constantly monitors the income flows and automatically deducts the agreed percentage for the repayment of the loan.”
“The technological solution provides an opportunity to provide financing without collateral and without a fixed repayment schedule. Interest is replaced by a one-time loan fee.”
In its two years of operation, Softloans focused on developing and testing its embedded revenue-based lending solution. This solution, encompassing data collection, analytics, risk assessment, and loan management, is now deployed by 10 partners.
Leveraging its analytics tool, Softloans has processed data from nearly 1,000 corporate clients across multiple countries including Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, the Netherlands, Finland, and Poland.
Funds for expansion
Co-founder Griškevičius says, “The pre-seed funding provides even more confidence and an opportunity to further develop the technological solution so that it is easily and smoothly applied not only to e-commerce businesses, but also to businesses using POS terminals.”
“I have no doubt that the Softloans revenue-based financing solution is by far the best lending product for small and medium-sized businesses that we have on the market today.”
“Like all innovations, this one has taken some time to be accepted by partners and customers in the region, but we are already seeing excellent results and are happy to be part of the growth of businesses. We are planning expansion in Lithuania and beyond.”
