Liberis bags $112m in debt financing to fuel expansion in North America and Europe
UK-based embedded finance platform Liberis has secured $112 million in fresh debt financing to help fuel its expansion plans in North America and Europe.
Liberis plans to go live in Canada, Germany and Poland in 2024
The company, which currently operates in the UK, the US and a number of European markets, plans to go live in Canada, Germany and Poland in 2024 as it looks to help close the “$5.2 trillion funding gap” being faced by small businesses.
The new debt financing has been provided by HSBC Innovation Banking and BCI Capital and follows on from a €30 million debt financing raise in January from Silicon Valley Bank UK (which was snapped up by HSBC UK for £1 in March following the collapse of SVB and rebranded and expanded to form HSBC Innovation Banking in the summer).
Founded in 2007, Liberis uses AI and ML algorithms to analyse business data and form accurate risk profiles to provide personalised funding options to small businesses that might otherwise struggle to secure responsible and sustainable finance.
“The challenge faced by small businesses when seeking finance is indicative of the inflexible lending criteria maintained by traditional banks, which often unfairly categorise SMEs as high-risk borrowers,” says Nima Montazeri, CPO at Liberis.
“This issue stems from outdated lending practices and technologies which fail to adequately cater to the needs of smaller, asset-light businesses.”
Liberis says it has “25 global strategic partners and direct reach to more than 1.5 million small businesses” and claims to have funded “nearly $1.5bn in over 60,000 transactions” since launch.
