Lunar and Swedish Lender Lendify Join Forces to Fuel Nordic Expansion

Nordic challenger bank Lunar is acquiring Lendify, a Swedish digital lending and savings platform, to bolster its consumer credit offering and accelerate its Nordic expansion. Lunar recently launched its “Buy Now, Pay Later” credit product and is significantly fast tracking its consumer lending platform with Lendify’s credit engine and peer-to-peer savings capabilities.

In an all-share transaction, Lunar is welcoming Lendify’s investors and employees to Lunar Group. Lendify’s largest shareholders include Richard Göransson, ex-Intrum owner, Håkan Roos, owner of RoosGruppen and early investor in iZettle, Inbox Capital and AB Grenspecialisten.

In a comment, founder and CEO of Lunar Group, Ken Villum Klausen, said:

• We have been following Lendify closely for some time and been impressed by their credit model and modern P2P saving capabilities. We want to augment our customer deposits and accelerate pan-Nordic growth, and Lendify is the perfect fit in terms of risk appetite, culture and future vision.
• Lendify has for several years been considered one of Sweden’s hottest fintechs and was an early innovator of consumer lending with their peer-to-peer platform. We are delighted to welcome the talented Lendify team to the Lunar family and together we have an incredible opportunity to build a Nordic financial dominator that will benefit all customers when they save, spend and invest.

Under the terms of the transaction, Lunar will acquire Lendify with a loan book of around EUR 300 million and 40,000 active savings and loan customers. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

In a comment, chairwoman of Lendify, Elisabet Lundgren, said:

• This transaction will make a real impact in the market. Lunar and Lendify is a really good match and the combined entities will be well positioned for continued strong growth as a challenger bank. I am impressed by the business that Lunar has established in a short period of time with a customer-focused and competitive product offering.
• Through the acquisition, Lunar will gain access to Lendify’s scalable technology platform and cutting-edge credit assessment process. I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has been involved in this transaction.

Lunar will for now operate Lendify as an independent platform and originate loans under both the Lendify and Lunar brands. The acquisition brings a talented team from Lendify that will be integrated into Lunar’s organisation and work closely with Lunar’s existing team in Sweden.

In a comment, owner of Roosgruppen and Lendify investor, Håkan Roos, said:

• True synergies seldom evolve as clearly as through the marriage between Lunar and Lendify. I am honored to bring the bride to the altar (not to mention the other parents) and will follow the rise of the new family with devotion, passion and care.

The transaction is pending regulatory approval and is expected to close mid May.