Lunar Way gets new investor and banking partner, Nykredit
Lunar Way partners with Nykredit; has pan-European aspirations
Nykredit, Denmark’s largest mortgage provider, has invested in a minority stake in a new mobile banking service, Lunar Way, and has become its banking partner.
In two months’ time Nykredit will replace Københavns Andelskasse (Copenhagen Cooperative Bank), the start-up’s initial banking partner.
Mark Dissing Bækgaard, head of marketing and communications at Lunar Way, tells Banking Technology: “We’ve been very happy to work with Københavns Andelskasse. They wanted to build a platform and learn what they could offer to fintech start-ups and we needed a good start to launch our partner-bank model.
“We’ve come a long way together and now the time has come for Lunar Way to scale our business. That’s why we’re partnering up with Nykredit in Denmark.”
Lunar Way’s chairman of the board is ex-MD of Nykredit, Henning Kruse Petersen.
Lunar Way is itself not a bank, but is a provider of digital financial services, similar to Simple or Moven.
Its model is to partner with established banks (that have banking licences) – and following a successful signing in Denmark, it is now working on similar partnerships in Sweden and Norway and plans to launch before the end of the year.
Ken Villum Klausen, CEO and founder of Lunar Way, believes that an established bank and a fintech start-up can be “a perfect match”. The incumbents, such as Nykredit, “excel at regulation” and have “the classic banking skills in abundance”, while Lunar Way “excels at providing the best mobile user experience”.
He adds that Lunar Way is the only player in the market built upon partnering with multiple local banks. “This means a Swede will have a Swedish account, a Dane will have a Danish account, a Norwegian will have a Norwegian account – all through the same interface, the Lunar Way app. And there will be no ”middleman” costs.”
The plan is to onboard 85,000 Scandinavian users this year, and then go pan-European. Millennials are Lunar Way’s target segment.
Its proposition is a MasterCard debit card and a mobile app that offers an overview of accounts and transfers, and let customers deposit money, pay bills and login via Touch ID.
Beta testing is currently underway in Denmark.
Who’s behind Lunar Way
Lunar Way is backed by a Scandinavian venture fund, Seed Capital.
Board members include Tuva Palm, CTO of another financial services venture, Nordnet; Sebastian Vestergaard, CFO at Joe & The Juice; Niels Vejrup Carlsen, associate director at Seed Capital; and Mads Kjær, CEO at Kjaer Group.
