People’s Champion finalist 2018: Divido

Start-up name: Divido
Founders: Christer Holloman, Fredrik Borgquist, Anders Hallsten
Started in: 2015
Based in: London
Business description: Offers instant finance from competing lenders to multinational customers at the point of purchase

Shortlisted category:

Innovative Business of the Year

The Divido story

We’re all familiar with the concept of ‘buy now, pay later’ customer credit, yet Divido’s business model offers a genuine point of difference, its innovative design encouraging healthy competition between lenders and point-of-sale convenience to consumers.

It can be daunting to spend a large amount of money in one hit, but Divido gives customers the confidence to click ‘buy’ on those big-ticket items.

The company has partnered with merchants and banks including HTC, Lenovo, BMW and Mastercard, and its innovative point-of-sale financing is available to retail clients for both online and in-store purchases.

Retail clients are promised up to 20% growth in sales, while users are offered an enticing 0% finance option.

Co-founder and CEO Christopher Holloman has based Divido on the premise that “what’s good for the retailers is also good for the lenders who are providing this credit”, given that customer finance options not only boost footfall and eyeballs, but raise average order values as they embolden customers to spend more – and pay later.

Of course, the customer finance market is not without competition. However, Divido is unique in that it doesn’t provide the financing itself, nor does it partner with a single lender. Instead, it connects customers to their own marketplace of lenders who compete to offer credit.

This model is widely considered to be an industry differentiator, because it not only facilitates competition between lenders, but also allows smaller retailers to offer consumer credit to their customer, which in turn levels the playing field between large and small lenders.

Since the capital is all coming from external partners, Divido is able to focus its own investment on product development, branding and marketing. Indeed, the £16m it has received from both VC and Series A funding has fuelled rapid growth.

Since 2017, Divido has upped the number of merchants it works with from just 218 to over 900, rolling out its platform to Spain, France, Germany and the Nordics as well as the UK.

The company’s sights are firmly set on further growth, with plans to expand into 10 more countries by the end of 2019.

Why Divido made our shortlist:

Divido’s unique consumer credit platform promises to not only stimulate the economy by boosting sales for retailers, but also propagate an egalitarian ethos by ‘democratising’ the customer credit marketplace.

Its omni-channel platform provides top-notch customer service, working across markets through one simple integration and seamlessly connecting consumer and lender.

Where to find out more about Divido:

Website: www.divido.com
Twitter: @divido