Businesses can apply for KfW instant loans digitally through Penta

Berlin, December 9, 2020

The Penta digital banking platform is taking a big step forward in supporting individual businesses and small and medium-sized businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic. Customers can now apply for the KfW 2020 instant loan fully digitally through Penta, thanks to the cooperation with Banxware. This makes Penta the first digital banking platform on the market that makes this possible.

The ‘Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau’ (KfW) instant loan is intended to support entrepreneurs who have suffered financial losses due to the COVID-19 crisis and need to improve their cash flow or cover their running costs. In these difficult times, Penta and Banxware have joined forces to make the request for this state aid through KfW quickly and easily accessible to businesses in need. The young company Banxware develops software allowing any company to offer financial products and thus acts as middleware between platforms and banks. In cooperation with Penta, Banxware provides the necessary infrastructure.

Thus, individual entrepreneurs, freelancers and SMEs can digitally submit an application for a KfW instant loan up to a maximum loan amount of € 300,000 via Penta and its partner Banxware in 15 minutes. The only requirements for a KfW Instant Loan are that the companies must be in the market since January 2019 and have a maximum of 10 employees. In addition, they must have made profits in the period preceding the COVID-19 crisis, in 2019 or, failing that, in the years 2017-2019.

Penta and Banxware have developed a digital solution that allows companies to get an instant KfW loan in a few steps: After the online application in a few minutes, the partner Vereinigte Volksbank Raiffeisenbank eG as a credit intermediary checks the credit application and submits it to KfW for the final credit decision. In the event of a positive loan decision from KfW, the contract will be made available to VVRB in the short term and sent to customers by post. They must then sign the contract and return it to the VVRB. Then the disbursement will be sent 100% to the Penta commercial account.

Penta and Banxware have found a two-week solution to provide entrepreneurs with quick and easy access to financial resources that are lacking due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Investments can be made, such as the purchase of machinery and equipment. Even running costs such as rent, salaries or operating resources can be covered. The KfW Instant Loan also eliminates the need for collateral and a risk assessment by the bank.

Lukas Zörner, Chief Product Officer and Managing Director at Penta: “At Penta, we recognize that some customers are struggling to survive the COVID-19 pandemic. Digital makes us extremely proud. This allows us to support many individual businesses and small and medium-sized businesses.

Miriam Wohlfarth, founder of Banxware, is also satisfied: “The bank of the future must be oriented towards the needs of the customers. Banxware helps platforms and banks make just that possible. We are very proud that with Penta and our first product, we are able to reach so many companies right away and give them the help they urgently need at times like this. It is a real success. “

Penta is the digital business banking platform for small and medium-sized businesses, as well as the self-employed and the self-employed. Within minutes, businesses can digitally apply for a business account and receive a German IBAN, debit cards, digital expense management and other financial solutions. As an official partner of the DATEV Marketplace, Penta allows the transfer of accounting data via the official interface to DATEV. The company is headquartered in Berlin, with another office in Belgrade. The management consists of Jessica Holzbach, Lukas Zörner, Henrik Jondell and Igor Kuschnir.

Banxware is an integrated financial services software provider that enables digital platforms such as marketplaces, payment providers, point-of-sale providers and other aggregators to offer white-label financial products, in particular loans to their traders. The company is headquartered in Berlin and was founded in September 2020 by Miriam Wohlfarth, Jens Röhrborn and Fabian Heiß.