Investment House Acquires 20% of P2P Lending Startup’s Business in Israel

By Avi Mizrahi 

Israeli Investment House Psagot has announced an agreement to purchase 20% of multinational Peer to Peer (P2P) lending platform BLender‘s activity in Israel, pending regulatory approvals. No financial details from the deal have been revealed yet but it is known that Psagot will be adding its representative to the BLender Israel Board of Directors.

Psagot is the largest investment house in Israel and manages assets valued at $50 billion for a million individuals, corporations and institutions. It is owned by Apax Partners, a UK-based private equity and venture capital firm.

BLender was selected as one of the most promising fintech companies in 2015 by The British Chamber of Commerce and KPMG. One of its unique features is that it allows lenders to sell their loan portfolios in the secondary market, providing liquidity. BLender finalized its Series A round last year, which was led by Blumberg Capital, a Silicon Valley venture capital fund, to finance an expansion in Western Europe and Latin America.

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