Smart Lenders AM, a Paris-based investor in online loans, has announced a partnership with UK-based Ooodles, a financing firm for tech products.
Erich Bonnet, Président of Smart Lenders, said that they are providing capital via their Lending Smart Fund 1, participating in the early financing of the Device-As-A-Service industry through Ooodles, he described as “one of the most promising companies in this field.”
“We were impressed by the expertise and complementarity of the team, the technology deployed, the data collection and analysis,” said Bonnet.
“The hardware segment is still stuck on a buy-and-sell model as customer demand shifts to a subscription model,” explained Leonardo Poggiali, CEO of Ooodles. He said they offer flexible rental programs for SMEs and professionals to regularly upgrade to the newest devices while saving time and money. By partnering with Smart Lenders, Ooodles expects to meet unmeet demand.
Smart Lenders has developed a monthly rental model for Ooodles, which is said to be enabling the adoption of the new mode of consumption linked to use rather than ownership.
Ooodles serves several types of customers, such as individuals (B2C), small businesses (B2B), and employees of corporate clients (B2B2C) who are comfortable with technology and need the newest technology.
Oodles targets high-end products with low risk of tech failure and low depreciation. The term of most agreements is typically 3 to 36 months.
This is the fourth partnership for loan originations established by Smart Lenders. The others include:
- Silvr, the European champion in non-dilutive financing of e-merchants and SaaS-based on their future revenues (“Revenue-Based Financing”);
- Student Finance, an impact-based platform for financing vocational training;
- Triple Dragon which specializes in financing the video game and mobile app industry.
Smart Lenders is a management company specializing in the management of loan portfolios whose issuance and negotiation take place through online lending platforms, or Marketplace Lending or Crowdlending. Created in 2014, the management company moved to Paris on January 1, 2018, and transferred from London. It is registered with the AMF and has AIFM full-scope status.
