Mintos raises €5m for banking services launch

EUROPEAN lending marketplace Mintos has raised €5m (£4.3m) as it aims to launch banking services to its customers.

Latvian venture capital firm Grumpy Investments, which was previously known as Skillion Ventures, has made the investment into Mintos.

Mintos says the capital will be used to launch a its own IBAN personal bank account and debit card. The peer-to-peer lending platform is also planning to double the size of its team as it expands globally.

Personal accounts will allow Mintos investors to make and receive payments from around the world as well as receive their salaries directly into a Mintos account.

“Providing customers with a personal IBAN account and debit card will mark a major leap in our services and significantly improve the user experience,” said Martins Sulte, Mintos’ chief executive and co-founder.

 Read more: Mintos partners with Trustly to offer real-time payments

“Soon, everybody with their own IBAN accounts will be able to give the account details to their friends, companies or customers to get paid, to pay using a debit card, and to continue using Mintos for investing in loans around the globe and earning great returns.

“Our upcoming mobile app will make it even more convenient.”

Mintos has funded more than €1.2bn in business loans, personal loans, car loans and other short-term loans over the past three years, and it has a network of almost 90,000 investors in every corner of the world.

Read more: First UK finance provider joins Mintos 

It has a team of 60 employees at its headquarters in Riga, Latvia, with additional offices in Warsaw and Mexico City.

“We have been profitable since January 2017, but we see a huge opportunity to expand on a much larger scale and speed,” said Sulte.

“Additional funding will help us to even faster execute on building great products and new services to our clients globally, invest in hiring the best team and expand geographically, to Latin America, Africa, and Southeast Asia.”

Read more: A guide to European P2P platforms for UK investors