Visa, Froda and Lunar unveil lending solution for small business

By Gloria Methri

FinTech Froda, digital challenger bank Lunar, and Visa have teamed up to launch a new lending solution to help businesses access financing for their growth initiatives. The solution, which utilizes push-payment functionality for financing, aims to reduce transaction times to mere seconds that would typically have taken months.

Under the partnership, Lunar’s customers will gain access to business loans through Froda’s proprietary embedded lending platform, featuring direct payments and repayments via Visa card.

SMEs will be able to apply for a business loan directly through their card provider. Visa’s presence in over 200 countries and territories provides a consistent experience regardless of market, making the product globally scalable.

“I am thrilled to announce our collaboration with Visa and Lunar to bring a new level of convenience and efficiency to the world of business lending for SMEs. Our goal was to create a new ecosystem within embedded lending that would offer entrepreneurs easy access to financing and instant payouts. With the support of Visa, we can offer this innovative solution to both neobanks and incumbent banks across multiple markets,” said Olle Lundin, CEO at Froda.

“At Visa, we are constantly seeking new innovative ways to leverage the use of card infrastructure. The solution Froda has developed offers something new to the embedded lending ecosystem. We are very excited to be a part of this and can’t wait to see the impact it will have on small business lending,” added Philip Konopik, Regional Managing Director of Nordics & Baltics at Visa.

The embedded lending solution will be accessible to Lunar’s customers in Q2 2023, with the possibility for more SME card issuers to join.

Mats Persson Bergius, General Manager, Sweden, at Lunar said, “By using Visa’s infrastructure, the solution provides a consistent experience for customers regardless of the market. Partnering up with card issuers will provide a source for transaction data to enhance credit scoring and the ability to present accurate pre-scored available credit to customers.”