Stenn, the leading digital financing platform for global SMEs, has now deployed capital to the tune of $10 billion, helping businesses fulfil their ambitions by accelerating cashflows and facilitating growth.
This milestone reflects the rapid growth of Stenn’s digital solution since the company was founded and highlights the ongoing challenge that SMEs face in finding quick and effective access to capital, given they are often neglected by traditional sources of finance.
Estimates continue to identify that the SME financing gap will reach a massive $6.1trn by 2025, a huge opportunity cost for global growth and prosperity. Stenn champions SMEs and their access to financing by bridging that gap through a quick, simple and transparent platform while de-risking capital provision for institutional investors through its risk management architecture and use of proprietary technology.
Stenn’s unique solution is helping to level the playing field for under-served SMEs, particularly in emerging markets where digital technology is fuelling an explosion in the service economy and creating new opportunities for growth, not least through cross-border trade.
With over 50% of total financing taking place in the past twelve months, the steepening of Stenn’s growth trajectory has been dramatic, with platform volumes seeing more than 100% annual compound growth.
Founder Greg Karpovsky began Stenn in 2015 having pioneered a new market in digital SME finance for the last 20 years. Greg has witnessed first-hand the financial constraints on SMEs across the globe and since formation, Stenn has enabled new digital trade routes and connected a myriad of buyers and sellers worldwide.
In recent years, the business has developed extensive partnerships with high profile providers of capital, from blue-chip banks, such as Citi, to institutional asset managers with a world-wide presence, attracted to Stenn’s technology platform which de-risks the investment process. Earlier this year, Stenn received $50 million of investment via a fundraising backed by Centerbridge, valuing the business at $900 million.
Amidst a fragile macroeconomic environment and major disruption for all businesses, not least SMEs, Stenn is experiencing huge appetite for its services from new customers, alongside a high level of customer retention. The business is also working on exciting new plans to further expand and enhance its services for its core SME customer.
Greg Karpovsky, Founder and CEO of Stenn, said: “The finance system has been stacked against SMEs for some time but never more so than in the current environment when, against a difficult and volatile economic backdrop, the cost of capital from traditional sources is at its highest for some time.
“Having facilitated $10 billion of digital financing for SMEs in such a short space of time demonstrates the need for simple, fast solutions to support this important area of the global economy, and I am extremely proud of what our team has achieved in reaching this milestone.
“Still, there is much more to do and we see a significant runway for further growth in our market, as we further improve our offer, support entrepreneurs and back the digital economy across the globe.”
