Scayl Raises $108 Million for FinTech Lenders

Debt financing platform Scayl has raised $108 million to lend to other European FinTech lenders.

Billing itself as a “Fintech for Fintech Lenders,” Scayl said it helps clients fund their loan books with more speed and flexibility than working with banks or credit funds, the Swedish company said in a news release provided to PYMNTS Wednesday (April 3).

“When I worked as a debt investor, I would send out term sheets to Fintech lenders requiring warrants corresponding to upwards of 10% of businesses,” said Medjit Yalmaz, Scayl’s co-founder and CEO. “I saw first-hand the endless hidden fees and 6-12 month timelines it took to negotiate and structure debt before founders got the capital they needed. The process wasn’t very friendly, but it continues to be market standard.”

The company said its platform lets FinTech lenders connect seamlessly, with Scayl maintaining integrations to and getting funding from banks and other credit institutions. The company said its technology allows for real-time monitoring of 10,000x more data points and employs AI-enabled risk modeling, rather than traditional approaches now used by financiers.

Yalmaz — like his co-founders Patrik Blomdahl and Jatin Goyal — have a background in the venture capital, private credit and FinTech lending spaces. They founded Scayl last year, “having seen the challenges Fintech lenders faced when raising debt,” with the company emerging from stealth Wednesday.

“There is a 400 billion euro funding gap in Europe alone, and it will be Fintechs, not banks, taking advantage of the opportunity,” Yalmaz said. “By supporting these Fintechs and helping them fill this gap we expect to facilitate the growth of many unicorns for years to come, and we’re extremely excited by that.”

As PYMNTS wrote last month, Europe operates within a unique economic and monetary environment, with multiple countries sharing one currency. Businesses there face the same economic headwinds that plague the rest of the world, and the European economy is notably stagnant, expanding by less than 1% last year and offering a moderate outlook for 2024.

“Against this backdrop, European middle-market firms face myriad challenges, which makes using external working capital solutions — and taking advantage of the improvements they can enable — especially important,” that report said. “Going forward, these organizations must proceed with caution if they hope to retain their market viability.”