Lend has been online since the beginning of the year. The company is providing a peer-to-peer lending platform, where investors and borrowers are getting together to agree on terms of loans. So far, a total volume of 1 million francs has been agreed upon on the platform, the company told finews.ch.

To further develop its product, Lend has been looking for and found investors, yielding 1.65 million francs for the Zurich-based company.

No Middleman – No Fee

Amir Suissa is one of the new investors in Lend. He once founded DeinDeal.ch, a discount platform he has since sold to Ringier, one of Switzerland's biggest media houses. Another investor is Nicholas Verwilghen, partner at EMI, which has merged with Gottex. Polytech Ecosystems Ventures, a risk capital fund, has also agreed to invest in Lend.

The business model of Lend is based on the principle that the direct link between lender and borrower cuts out the middleman and thus reduces the price of the credit. Lenders on the platform on average take an interest of 4 to 8 percent.

Four Founding Partners

Lend was founded by three bankers and an IT entrepreneur. Andy Siemers was member of the executive board at GE Money Bank, today called Cembra. Florian Kuebler was in charge of the structured product sales desk at Zuercher Kantonalbank. Michel Lalive d'Epinay was at UBS investment bank in compliance. And Tom Stierli is an IT specialist, who developed babysitting24.ch. Stierli and Siemers also manage Credix, a credit platform.