Italian FinTech links up with Abu Dhabi company to offer loans

A FinTech company that lends money to businesses that put up stock in their warehouses as collateral is set to launch in the Middle East after signing an agreement with a partner in Abu Dhabi.

Supply@ME, which is owned by Italy’s Avantgarde Group, is partnering Khaled AlMass’s iMass Investments to carry out a pilot stock monetisation programme, according to a statement on the London Stock Exchange, where the company’s shares trade.

The accord will be completed by the end of the first quarter next year.

Manufacturers or funders taking part in the pilot programme were not named.

“The UAE has a proven track record of investing in FinTech initiatives to support the real economy and we are very pleased to be part of that trend,” said Alessandro Zamboni, chief executive of Supply@Me Capital.

Supply@Me was listed on the London bourse in March this year and raised £2.4 million (Dh11.5m).

The company has created a FinTech platform that can lend money to businesses with tangible, re-sellable assets that are used as security for the loans but which remain in customers’ warehouses and are monitored by its software .

The loans are then securitised and sold on to investors. In the event a company defaults on its payments, the stock can be resold.

Supply@Me said last month that it had a pipeline of client companies worth €555m (Dh2.4 billion), which it expects to monetise once stock funding is secured.

It expects to issue its first securitised notes by the end of this year.

While Supply@Me’s initial focus has been Europe, the agreement with iMass paves the way for growth across the Middle East.

Mr AlMass, a board member of Taqa, healthcare insurer Daman and Saudi Enaya Cooperative Insurance, founded iMass in 2007. It has carried out an analysis of the UAE market and believes there is the potential to monetise up to $50bn (Dh183.6bn) of imported stocks and locally produced, non-oil goods worth $28bn.

Mr Zamboni said “we’re very excited to have an opportunity to work closely with iMass and Mr Almass in the UAE” .

“Bringing such financial services professionals and their extensive network of business connections and local knowledge into partnership with us should give SYME the opportunity to launch and scale up well in this region, ” he said.

Supply@ME tracks the stocks, which remain in the borrowers’ warehouses and are monitored by its software