Froda expands to France with Shine to bring fast and fair financing to small businesses

France registered 1,165,800 new businesses in 2025, the overwhelming majority of them, sole traders, micro-entrepreneurs and small businesses with a handful of employees. While small businesses make up 99% of French companies and employ 6.9 million people, their financing needs are not always well served by traditional lending models: the cost of assessing a small loan can be close to that of a much larger one, making small-ticket lending less economical for banks.

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Founded in Sweden in 2015, Froda has provided more than €2 billion in financing to 30,000 small businesses and financed more than 160,000 loans across Europe. Its embedded financing model is designed to address the economics of small business lending by automating credit assessment using real banking data and integrating financing directly into the banking, accounting and payment platforms businesses already use.

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Financing inside the tools businesses already use

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Froda’s embedded model places financing directly inside the banking, accounting and payment platforms small businesses already use to run their business. Credit assessment is automated using real banking data rather than manual review, reducing the operational cost of assessing smaller loans and making small-ticket financing economically viable on fair terms. French businesses will access Froda's financing inside the Shine app they already use to run their business. Applications are completed and approved in real time, and loans are paid out the same day, often within an hour. Froda lends in France as a Swedish credit institution supervised by the Swedish FSA (Finansinspektionen), and is operating across the EU under passporting rules.

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“France is creating more businesses than ever, but the financing hasn’t followed,” said Olle Lundin, CEO and co-founder of Froda. “A €5,000 investment can be just as decisive for a small business as a €500,000 investment is for a larger company. The difference is that the economics of traditional lending make those smaller amounts harder to serve. With Shine, we can put financing where entrepreneurs already run their business, so they can act while the opportunity is still there.”

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Building on existing partnership with Shine

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The launch in France builds on an existing relationship between Froda and the Shine group. Kontist in Germany and Billy in Denmark already offer business loans through Froda’s embedded platform, making France the third and largest market in which the two are working together.

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The launch follows a pilot conducted over the summer with a controlled group of Shine customers, with the full rollout to its customer base beginning earlier this month. 

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“We've already seen what Froda's financing means for small businesses in Germany and Denmark, and we're seeing the same demand in France,” said Rico Adlor-Andersen, CEO and co-founder of Shine. “Our ambition has always been to give entrepreneurs everything they need to manage their business in one place, and fast, fair financing is a key part of that. Froda shares that approach, which makes them the right partner as we bring this to our largest market.”

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InvestEU expanding access for small businesses

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The French offering is supported by a microfinancing guarantee from the European Investment Fund under the EU's InvestEU programme. The EIF, part of the European Investment Bank group, works through licensed financial partners such as Froda, in order to extend financing to entrepreneurs who otherwise have limited access to funding. For Shine's customers, that translates into better access to financing and more advantageous pricing.

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Froda plans to add further partners in France. The announcement follows a year of strong growth for the company, including its first partnership with a traditional bank, SpareBank 1 Østlandet. The company's partner base spans fintechs, platforms, and established banking institutions across the Nordics, the UK, Ireland, Germany and now France.

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About Shine

Shine is the administrative and financial copilot for businesses and their accountants. On a single platform, Shine brings together a business account, e-invoicing and accounting to simplify day-to-day operations, getting paid, staying compliant and keeping the books, so that business owners can focus on their activity and accountants on their advisory role. Born of the combination of Shine and Cegid engaged in 2026, Shine aims to cover the entire chain, from the end customer's invoice to the firm's financial statements, on a unified ecosystem. Led by Rico Adlor-Andersen, Shine today serves one million entrepreneurs and 15,000 accountants in France and across Europe. Authorised as a payment institution by the ACPR, the French prudential supervisory authority, Shine has been voted Customer Service of the Year (Élu Service Client de l'Année) three years running in the online business banking category.

About Froda
Founded in 2015, Froda set out to redefine business financing by making it accessible, efficient, and empowering for small and medium-sized enterprises. Through digital processes and technological innovation, Froda has shortened the loan process from months to minutes, making it easy for entrepreneurs to invest in their ideas and grow with ease. Today, Froda is one of Europe’s fastest-growing fintech scaleups. With a strategic focus on embedded financing, Froda has expanded across the Nordics, the UK, Ireland and Germany, partnering with industry leaders like Visa, Checkout.com, Lunar. Froda is a licensed credit market company under the supervision of the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority.