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March 29, 2024
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Romanian News

Financial Startup to Launch in Romania

Fagura, a fintech company launched in Moldova, is operating as an online bank, where people can manage their entire financial life online. Fagura has recently exposed the plans to launch in Romania.

The company which has created a platform offering loans and the possibility to invest in these loans (P2P lending), announces the public launch of a new investment round through the British online financing platform Seedrs.com, to support scaling in Romania and the development of digital banking services in partnership with other banks, according to company representatives. The London platform also listed the Fagura project at a pre-money valuation of €5 million.

The founders of Fagura first met in Chișinău, Moldova, and thought there was a need for their product there. Tudor Darie, the company’s principal founder, and CEO, also had an idea. He had started a new firm and attempted to secure some finance, or more specifically, a loan from a bank, but the bank refused to provide him a loan despite his track record and his assets.

Launched in May 2019, Fagura.com is one of the first alternative lending investment platforms registered in Estonia and tested in the Republic of Moldova. Throughout its roughly three years of operation, the platform has won awards in the Fintech sector at numerous national and local events. The project team is made up of 15 people, has had five online business exits so far, and is dedicated to creating a digital community where people may invest in democratizing loans for the business ideas of small companies in Romania and the Republic of Moldova.

Fintech is not a first-round investment, therefore in the first round of funding through Seedrs.com, which took place in 2021, the startup delayed a pre-seed financing of 340.000 euros to a post-money valuation of 2,34 million euros. The money raised in the first round of investments was used to expand in the Republic of Moldova, prepare, and submit the authorization request to ASF Romania.

In order to obtain an EU crowdfunding authorization, Fagura now holds a nebula creditor’s license in the Republic of Moldova and has submitted an authorization request to ASF Romania.

In Romania, it would be businesses only because, as part of the European crowdfunding regulation, we cannot lend money to individuals unless it’s a business project. So they – if it’s a PFA or SRL – can define the project and need the money for, and they can describe it and make it almost like a small pitch then that’s something we could be crowdfunding for. We’re still researching the market to clearly define what is the target group we will be going after in the first phase, but essentially yes, it will be small to mid-sized enterprises; they either don’t have the time, or they don’t want to go to a bank, or they cannot get a loan from a bank or from a micro-lender, or it’s too expensive, and they want to come to Fagura to get their funding. So this is the proposition.

Cristian Pașa for Romanian Insider

Also, Fagura provides a platform for alternative investments and financing which can be beneficial for the local financial ecosystem to have a local, Romanian organization that can provide alternative investment products alongside companies like Seedblink and Ronin.

Romanian start-ups are using seedblink in order to grow their businesses and get crowdfunding.

Although the stock market investments in Romania are expanding and there are mutual funds there, there is still more that might be done in terms of alternative investments.

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