Despite a slowdown in fintech funding in the third quarter of 2016, there are still some companies making waves in the burgeoning industry.
Blackmoon is a fintech company that offers a very interesting MPLaaS (Marketplace Lending as a Service) product, which enables institutional investors to directly invest in loans issued by balance sheet lenders. After getting into the United States a few months ago, the interest on the company and its product was even higher, and now Blackmoon is announcing a successful $2.5 million equity funding round.
The funding round was led by Target Global, A&NN Group, Flint Capital, and several private investors. The valuation of the company, as well as the structure of the investment, were not disclosed.
Now with offices on Russia, Cyprus and the US, Blackmoon works with lending institutions from around the world: United States, Russia, Finland, Latvia, Estonia, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Georgia to name a few. This funding round will be used to further develop its technological platform and front-end solutions, in addition to the expansion of the company’s presence in the US market – a key growth area in the next year and a half.
Oleg Seydak, founder and CEO of Blackmoon, had his say on what makes his company stand out, and the importance of this investment:
“Blackmoon enables institutional investors to directly invest in newly originated loans issued by balance-sheet lenders in a scalable and a transparent way. Unlike other players, we are not trying to replace banks – we just want to give them and other balance-sheet lenders a unique tool to improve efficiency and risk management. We are happy to have such experienced, knowledgeable investors on board to help us continue moving towards that goal and developing the company.”
Mikhail Lobanov, a partner at Target Global, explained why Blackmoon’s operations are worth this investment:
“We see a great potential in the business model Blackmoon has chosen. The proposed solution can freely scale both geographically and through the product segments, providing new opportunities for lending institutions and owners of capital. Being familiar with alternative lending through our investments in leading P2P platforms we see Blackmoon as a perfect solution for balance sheet lenders who are willing to expand their offering and diversify funding.
Blackmoon operates on a growing niche inside fintech, estimated to be worth more than $850 billion. With this in mind, it is no surprise that investors see great potential in this company, and are willing to invest strongly on it.