Polish fintech startup BidFinance, which develops an auction platform for trading debt portfolios, has raised €1.6 million, as was reported to Vestbee. The recent funding will fuel the firm's international expansion.
- BidFinance was founded in 2022 by Zenia Karastoyanov, who has a professional background in the financial industry at Deloitte Poland and MCI Capital.
- The startup's auction platform connects sellers, including banks, loan companies, telecoms, leasing firms, and energy companies, with potential buyers — collection agencies, investment funds, and law firms.
“The key advantage of our solution over the traditional debt portfolio sales model is the maximization of the seller's price. One of our clients previously sold its debt portfolios at an average of 15% of their value. After listing the portfolio on our platform, the price increased to 26%. So far, the maximum added value to the portfolio's starting price during an auction has exceeded 80%,” explains Zenia Karastoyanov.
- Since its launch, the company has completed over 70 transactions, with the total value of listed debt portfolios surpassing €280,000 (PLN 1.2 billion). Today, the startup claims that nearly 70 active buyers are registered on the BidFinance platform, covering 90% of the market.
- This time, the investment came from 4growth VC, one of the firms receiving capital from PFR Ventures last year, FundingBox Deep Tech Fund, and unnamed business angels. In 2023, the company secured funding from Digital Ocean Ventures, a venture builder owned by the WP2 Investment fund.
- Using the proceeds, BidFinance plans to expand into the Nordic countries first, where, according to the startup, annual unsecured debt sales are estimated at €8-10 billion.
