French startup Prêt d’Union is one of the biggest fintech startups in its home country, but it has yet to expand its crowd-lending services outside of France. Prêt d’Union is about to go all in on European expansion, a source told me. The company could expand to Italy as soon as tomorrow. Update: The Italian launch has been postponed to Monday or Tuesday.
But Prêt d’Union doesn’t exactly sound Italian. That’s why the company is working on a rebranding effort, as well. From day one, Prêt d’Union is going to be called Younited Credit in Italy. younited-credit.it and younited-credit.com already redirect to pret-dunion.fr. A whois query tells us that younited-credit.it belongs to Prêt d’Union.
This is just step one, as Prêt d’Union doesn’t want to keep two brands and make them co-exist. In April, according to my source, Prêt d’Union will rebrand its French service into Younited Credit.
Finally, you can also expect other European expansions in the coming months. Spain might be next, but it could take a while.
In June 2015, Prêt d’Union raised $34 million (€31 million) from Eurazeo, Pierre Kosciusko-Morizet, as well as its previous investors. The startup specializes in peer-to-peer loans, meaning that individuals can either lend or borrow money using the service.
Compared to more traditional financial services, Prêt d’Union promises better returns if you meet the requirements to become a lender. As for borrowers, it’s an alternative to traditional banks.
And it’s working quite well. The startup has already managed $330 million (€299 million) in loans so far. Compared to last summer, this metric has grown by 50 percent. And this number could grow even more rapidly if the startup can convince potential customers living in other European countries.