Germany’s Smava — a peer-to-peer lending platform where investors provide the funds to loan money to borrowers — has raised $16 million in funding. Smava, like other online lending platforms, has developed a set of algorithms to vet and approve potential loan candidates. The fact that it is fully automated help it pass on low interest rates to users. To date, Smava has loaned out $600 million through its platform, with the number of loan originations growing 100% in the last year. “This fresh capital enables us to accelerate our business growth as well as to fulfil our vision of offering fully-automated loans to borrowers at best rates in the near future,” Alexander Artopé, CEO of smava, said in a statement. “The funding will also be used to advance smava’s scoring technology, hire the best talent and further fuel growth.”

http://techcrunch.com/2015/04/22/german-online-loans-platform-smava-raises-16m/