Qred and Webrock Launch Joint Venture in Brazil
Fintech scale-up Qred and investment company Webrock Ventures today announce a joint venture in Brazil. Qred’s digital technology for SME lending will be combined with local expertise and financing from Webrock Ventures and Swedish investment fund manager Atlant Fonder.
Emil Sunvisson, Adriano Duarte and Joakim Pops
“The vast majority of small businesses still lack access to credit in order to invest and grow, despite the Brazilian economy digitizing at full tilt,” says Emil Sunvisson, CEO of Qred.
Adriano Duarte, Co-founder and CEO of the new Brazilian company, adds: “It is important to establish a well-functioning small business financing in Brazil that will foster both individual SME businesses and the nation’s economic development. That’s where we have an important and impactful role to play."
In partnership with Webrock Ventures, Qred will establish its business model in a country where over 15 million small businesses generate over 25% of the country's GDP, and SMEs account for 2/3 of all private sector employment.
"We are very excited about this investment, which fits naturally into our portfolio of fast-growing tech companies with Nordic roots in Brazil. Together with Qred and Atlant Fonder, we have great potential to be a viable player in online corporate loans in one of the world’s largest and fastest growing digital economies,” says Joakim Pops, Founding Partner at Webrock Ventures.
The driver behind Qred’s progress in Europe is a fully digital application process integrated with scores of sources of credit data, combined with with high-touch personal service. This has allowed Qred, since its 2015 inception, to quickly expand from Sweden to Finland, Denmark and the Netherlands.
“Qred has shown that loans to small companies provide very strong risk-adjusted returns with a low correlation to the fixed income and equity markets. Demand for this type of asset is growing rapidly and we see great potential to increase exposure to Brazil,” says Taner Pikdöken, manager of Atlant Fonder.
Contact:
Joakim Pops, Founding Partner/CEO, Webrock Ventures: +46-707 13 81 00
About Qred
Qred is Sweden's fastest growing fintech company, and is the market leader in the Nordic region within corporate loans up to one million SEK. Since its start in 2015, Qred has lent over two billion SEK to support small business investments and working capital. Having grown 7000% since 2015, Qred had a turnover of 126 million SEK in 2018 and today has 55 employees in Stockholm, Helsinki and Riga.
About Atlant Fonder
Atlant Fonder AB is a hedge fund management company founded in 2006. The firm currently manages in excess of 5 billion SEK mainly in market neutral absolute return strategies.
About Webrock Ventures
Webrock Ventures is an investment company that generates shareholder value by creating joint ventures with Swedish tech-related companies to build and develop new, successful companies in Brazil. Using our experience and understanding of doing business in the country, we provide access to a unique operational expertise that ensures our companies grow and prosper.
