October starts deployment of Italian direct lending fund

The fund was launched in October 2019 and has received commitments from the European Investment Fund (EIF), Neafidi, Confidi Systema, Fidimpresa Italia, Confidi Sardegna and Confidi Centro. Its investor base also includes various Italian and international institutional investors, insurance companies, banks, family offices and October's management.

Founded as Lendix in 2014 in France by Oliver Goy and subsequently rebranded as October, the firm provides direct lending to small companies on a large scale. To date, more than 700 SMEs have been financed by both institutional investors and private lenders.

The average loan granted to SMEs by October is €490,000. As part of their commitment, institutional investors will lend automatically to all projects presented on the platform alongside an existing community of 20,000 retail lenders.

Today, October operate as a pan-European tech lending platform with offices in France, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands and Germany.

In addition to October Italia, the firm manages October SME IV, a European long-term investment fund with a €250-300m target dedicated to SMEs based in France, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands and Germany, operating in a wide range of industrial sectors. It deploys financing between €30,000 and €5m.

The fund held a first close in December 2019 on €100m, with commitments from EIF, CNP Assurances, BPI France and Zencap, among others.

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• Topics
• Debt
• Southern Europe
• Italy