FundingPartner: Navigating the Nordic Crowdlending Market

In December 2023, Geir Atle Bore, the CEO of the Norwegian crowdlending platform FundingPartner, is evaluating the company’s growth strategies. Founded in 2018, FundingPartner provides loans to small to medium enterprises (SMEs), and in 2023, it has over a 60% market share of the SME crowdlending space in Norway. It is in the early stages of three initiatives to further propel its growth: expanding into other countries, onboarding institutional investors, and introducing new products to meet the financing needs of larger companies. This field-based case invites students to consider the risks and opportunities associated with each of the growth strategies. In doing so, it provides a rich setting to explore themes that are relevant to a wide range of fintech companies, including factors that influence the success of two-sided platforms, tradeoffs associated with different funding models, and challenges associated with entry into new product markets. The case also provides an opportunity to discuss the evolution of the crowdlending industry and how bank regulation can cause distortions in access to credit, providing a market opportunity for new entrants. The global nature of the case imparts broader lessons regarding how economic, regulatory, and cultural differences across countries can influence the success of fintech companies and start-ups more generally. This case is used in the fintech course at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business. It is part of a module on fintech lending. The case precedes “Upstart’s Upshot: Is Fintech Lending Fair?” (UVA-F-2060), which focuses on the use of machine learning and alternative data in the underwriting process. However, both cases are self-contained and can be used by themselves. This case is also suitable for courses on financial institutions or business strategy. The decisions embedded in the case are pertinent to all business education levels—MBA students, undergraduates, and executives.