InnoCells, Banco Sabadell’s hub of digital ventures, has acquired Instant Credit, a Spanish start-up which offers consumer lending in physical as well as digital sales points (e-commerce).
The company, created in 2016 in Barcelona, acts as an intermediary through a multi-financial and multi-channel technology platform which offers credit in a transparent, secure, instant and paperless manner.
This payment solution allows users to submit their credit requests in a 100% digital manner, and instantly receive their credit. The corresponding payments are automatically deducted from their bank card or account.
Instant Credit is a platform which offers financing through leading financial institutions in Spain as well as other European countries. One of its main objectives is to offer a wide range of geographical coverage to retailers which operate in more than one country, and to also generate a higher ratio of credit approvals for end customers who are purchasing the goods. Through its unique technology integration, Instant Credit helps e-commerce, as well as physical sales points, to increase their sales and profitability.
Octavio Soler Bach, founder and CEO of Instant Credit, highlights: "We are very excited about the potential created in this new stage. We will be adding all of Banco Sabadell Group's capacities to our model to grow our multi-financial solution for retailers and consumers located throughout Europe".
Julio Martínez, Executive Director of InnoCells, explains: It is a privilege to be able to incorporate such a talented team and the Instant Credit platform to the value proposal which Banco Sabadell offers to its customers. Instant Credit offers an agile, omnichannel payment experience, which is very much in line with the needs of the digital world." Adding that "the acquisition of the company represents Banco Sabadell’s strategic committment in payment methods and consumer financing."
In Spain, consumer financing amounted to almost €31,026 million in 2017, 15% higher than last year. According to Bank of Spain, since mid-2016 Spain is a leader in the Eurozone, with growth rates in excess of 10%, whilst other countries fluctuated between 5%-10%.
InnoCells carries out digital and technological strategic investments which contribute new technology, talent and knowledge to Banco Sabadell. In particular, InnoCells carries out direct retail investments as well as acquisitions, for the purpose of moving closer to new digital markets, as well as core capacities, with a faster time-to-market.
In 2017, the InnoCells team co-led its first investment for the amount of 1.5 million pounds (around 1.6 million euros) of seed capital at Bud, the leading British platform for the integration of financial solutions and products in a single marketplace.
In February, InnoCells led an investment round for €1 million in seed capital for Biometric Vox, a Spanish start-up which offers authentication and advanced electronic signature solutions through voice biometrics.
About Banco Sabadell, start-ups and innovation
Over the last few years, Banco Sabadell has implemented a global support strategy for start-ups and innovation. The entity has more than 2,700 start-up customers and, in the last five years, it has granted more than €150 million in investment and financing, having invested in more than 50 start-ups. In 2013, BStartup was created as well as the investment vehicle BStartup10, for start-ups in their initial stages. In 2015, Sabadell Venture Capital was created for capital investments and venture debt of up to 2 million euros in start-ups in their seed and A series stages. In 2017, InnoCells was created, the hub of digital ventures and corporate venture arm of Banco Sabadell.
