Shine

Shine, one of France's leading banks for self-employed and small businesses has integrated Froda's automated lending platform directly into its app, giving their 200,000 customers access to financing without leaving the tool they run their business from.

Built on a successful partnership

Shine has built a service that provides France's small business owners with everything from business banking to invoicing and accounting in one place. By partnering with Froda Embedded, Shine was able to make financing part of the offering too. Directly within the app, Shine customers can apply with a few clicks and have the money in their account in less than one day, and often within minutes. The partnership with Shine in France is part of the successful partnership with the Shine Group, where Kontist by Shine in Germany and Billy by Shine in Denmark are providing business loans through the Froda Embedded platform. 

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The challenge

France is one of Europe’s biggest economies and has around 5 million registered solo- and micro-businesses. Yet the smallest businesses remain the hardest to finance and credit approval rates trail well behind those of larger companies. It’s the same pattern behind the €400 billion financing gap across Europe: small businesses being turned away not for lack of creditworthiness, but because the economics don't add up for the lender. Shine's customers sit right in the middle of that gap, and Shine wanted to close it.

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The solution

Instead of building their business loan offering themselves, Shine chose to go the embedded lending route and integrate financing from a partner with a proven track record of doing financing for small businesses. By Froda Embedded's integrated solution, financing became a natural part of the Shine app. There are no redirects or manual steps, just a seamless flow where credit assessment runs automatically on real banking data and approved loans are paid out within minutes. The product is backed by the EU's InvestEU programme through Froda's microfinancing guarantee from the European Investment Fund, which translates into higher approval rates, more competitive pricing and faster decisions for Shine’s customers. 

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The outcome

Shine can now provide a full-service banking offering to their customers, including financing, without having to develop the solution themselves, add any operational complexity or carry any credit risk. A segment that most lenders still turn away, can now access financing inside the account they already use every day.