The credit broker Smava apparently plans the jump on the trading floor: As it is known today, an IPO was planned in this country.
By going public, the company wants to open the next chapter in its growth history, said Smava CEO Alexander Artopé in the media on Monday. Details on the timing and volume of the IPO as well as on the accompanying issuing banks have not yet been provided by the company.
The most recent OTC round of financing of the comparison portal went off in January 2018: About a year ago, the Berliners had 65 million USD u.a. secured by financial investor Vitruvian and venture capitalist Runa Capital. The investment was intended to further accelerate the product innovation of the fintech company.
Strong growth since 2012
According to Smava, the volume of brokered loans increased by 70% in 2018 to more than EUR 2 billion. Since 2012, the company has grown by an average of 90% per annum. Turnover apparently increased by 75% to EUR 70 million. Thus, Artopé sees the company founded in 2007 as the largest specialized in the brokerage of installment loans portal in Germany.
With the turnover achieved in 2018, Smava is larger than the portal Finanzcheck.de acquired by Scout24 last year – according to Scout24, the expected financial check sales are around EUR 42 million.
Other competitors to Smava are besides Finanzcheck u.a. Check24 or the ProSiebenSat.1 subsidiary Verivox – comparison portals are playing an increasingly important role, especially for the banking business.
For its intensive marketing campaigns for customer acquisition Smava is known throughout Germany – current example: Consumers can borrow up to the end of February loans of over 1,000 EUR to a negative interest rate of 10%.