Open finance integration allows instant permissioned access to sellers’ Pigu.lt turnover history to evaluate loan applications. Interest is only on the portion of any loan actually used and repayments come directly from the Pigu.lt platform
SME Finance, the fintech reinventing growth financing for small- and medium-sized enterprises, has partnered with Pigu and Hobby Hall Group (PHH Group) ,the operator behind the largest online marketplaces in the Baltics, to provide more than 4,000 sellers offering over 2 million products with one-click, collateral-free revenue-based financing (RBF) to grow their businesses to the next level.
Delivered via SME Finance’s embedded API and based on EU open finance legislation that enables instant permissioned access to sellers’ data, PHH’s merchants now don’t need to waste time looking around for financing on third party platforms. If they need money quickly to increase sales, they can obtain same-day revenue-based financing on the same platform where they sell their products.
RBF decisions by SME Finance are so simple and rapid because the fintech can obtain the turnover history needed to evaluate applications directly from PHH’s platforms. SME Finance evaluates the data and provides loans for up to three months. Interest is only charged on the portion of any loan actually used — rather than the full amount made available to the applicant — and repayments are made directly from PHH’s platforms.
Lukas Baškys, CSO Baltic States at SME Finance, comments: “Financial technology is moving at the speed of light. Open finance is enabling new ideas and partnerships that make the customer experience better, faster, as simple as possible. Our partnership with PHH Groupis a great example of how that is benefiting sellers and merchants. Just one-click releases the data from PHH to SME Finance for a same-day loan decision that can help a business step up to the next level. And because the lending decision is based on real trading data, everyone is better protected from any risk of overexpansion.”
Raimondas Žilėnas, Head of Marketplace at PHH Group, says: “PHH Group works hard to ensure the best business solutions for our sellers and the best shopping experience for our buyers. Our daily interactions with more than 4,000 sellers helps us clearly understand their needs, how we can improve our marketplace, and what new services we can suggest to make their businesses more successful. A financing solution is one of their core needs. This became clear when we started providing financing services about six months ago since when we have helped refinance loans for EUR 1 million . Based on this experience, we are delighted to start this partnership with SME Bank. Its finance services will make it easier and faster for our sellers to access bigger loans for their e-business development and growth. We believe that it will be hugely beneficial for our sellers.”