The company thus continues its international expansion, having entered six markets in one year: Spain, Germany, Poland, South Africa, Austria and the Netherlands.
The platform, which was founded in April 2014 in South Africa and is backed in the country by Africa Internet Holding (AIH), already has 100,000 users in all these markets. It has so far received more than 6,400 applications for loans worth over 5.4 billion Rands globally; South Africa is, for the moment, the only country outside Europe in which Lendico operates.

Users in the Netherlands may apply for a loan amount between R 8400 and R 25,000 for a period of between 6 and 60 months. Investors may invest amounts starting at R 350, with monthly returns on investment.

Lendico will be a real help to consumer credit on the Dutch market, considering that there are 9 million registered users of the national credit bureau (BKR) and therefore 9 million potential users. Furthermore, according to the Central Statistics Office (StatLine), the outstanding consumer credit payment amounts to 204.4 billion Rands, of which only 46.2 billion were issued in 2013.

Crowdfunding, alternative finance

The collaborative system or crowdfunding economy has become an alternative loans provided by traditional banks. In the case of the Netherlands, the crowdfunding market had a value 454 million ZAR in 2013, funding 1250 projects (Douw & Koren). In Africa, there are huge opportunities for growth in this area, with the crowdfunding potential for the region estimated at 27.42 billion Rands (Funding Institute Berkeley).

Within this segment, P2P lending is the type of alternative lending that has experienced the most growth in recent years. In 2014, it was estimated that the P2P lending sector implemented a total of R 448 billion worth of loans worldwide.