In 2015, my co-founders and I wanted to change the age-old business of lending, and more specifically to small businesses. Historically, the smallest businesses have been neglected and overlooked by old-school traditional banks.
We speak from experience, we have been in the same situation that thousands of small businesses face every day.
Let me tell you a short story: Once upon a time there was a relatively young and aspiring entrepreneur, let's call him Emil, who wanted to start his own business. There was a lot to learn, and a lot that was new, exciting and unknown. One of the first things Emil had to do was to go to a bank to open a bank account for his business. After a 15-minute meeting where he told the banker about his business plans in a nice suit, the entrepreneur was told that the bank didn't think the business idea seemed well thought out and that unfortunately he couldn't become a customer of the bank.
Thankfully, the entrepreneur did not give up and after a while managed to find a bank that would accept his newly founded business as a customer. Unfortunately, this is not an uncommon situation. Being taken seriously, given time, advice and fair financing is rare among small business owners.
That's why in 2015 we decided to launch Qred, to make financing easier and more accessible for small businesses, which is only fair given that 4 out of 5 new jobs are created by small businesses and that Sweden's future prosperity is largely dependent on creating new and emerging businesses.
Qred currently operates in no less than six markets, is one of Sweden's fastest growing fintech companies and has been recognized on the Financial Times list of Europe's fastest growing companies four years in a row. In addition, Qred is the leading player in the Nordic region in financing for small businesses and from October 2023 we are also one of Europe's newest banks.
We now aim to become the number one small business bank in Europe. We want all small businesses to get the treatment and respect they need and, above all, deserve. Using machine learning and AI, we can make a thorough and fair credit assessment in seconds and with our integrations to other platforms, we can disburse a loan within minutes.
So far, we have helped grow more than 100,000 entrepreneurs and helped create over 40,000 jobs over the years. We are determined to help millions of struggling entrepreneurs across Europe and to humble the old, traditional banks a little bit more.
Emil Sunvisson, CEO and co-founder
