European Investment Fund to help EU SMEs after new commitment to lending platform October

Online lending marketplace October has received a new €100m commitment from the European Investment Fund (EIF) and a group of other investors to help support European SMEs.

The capital was supplied by the EIF, CNP Assurances, Bpifrance, Zencap and others, to help finance European SMEs through the October platform.

This €100m will enable October to finance more SMEs in France, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands and Germany, with loans ranging from €30,000 to €5m.

October, which was founded in 2015, offers an online platform where small companies can get quick access to loans. Over 700 SMEs have used the service to receive loans from both institutional investors and private lenders. An average loan granted to companies is €490,000.

The EIF’s commitment is being made under its Private Credit Tailored for SMEs programme which launched last year. The programme combines resources from the EIF and the European Union under the European Fund for Strategic Investments also known as the Juncker Plan.

The programme was created to help boost private institutional investment in European SMEs.

October founder Olivier Goy said, “We offer two advantages for institutional investors who are looking to support the SME ecosystem in Europe : we are a pan European platform operating in France, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands and soon Germany and we allow them to support small and medium size companies at scale thanks to our technology.”

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