NOVEMBER 02 2026
Qred and Liberis have spent years addressing the same structural challenge in small business finance through different models. Qred built a direct digital relationship with small businesses and developed into a regulated European bank. Liberis built an embedded finance platform reaching businesses across Europe, the UK and North America through the services they already use. Their merger brings those capabilities together within one group.
Qred and Liberis were already familiar with each other when the idea of a combination began to take shape. Emil Sunvisson and Rob Fairfield had known each other for years, while Nordic Capital had followed both businesses and the wider small business financing market closely. Over that period, Qred built the regulated banking infrastructure, funding model and product breadth of a bank, while Liberis expanded an embedded distribution model with significant reach across Europe, the UK and North America.
That evolution strengthened the case for bringing the two businesses together.
Following regulatory approval, the merger was completed in November 2026. The combined group serves more than 60,000 small businesses across 17 countries, with access to approximately 11.5 million addressable merchants. Emil Sunvisson leads the group as Group CEO, with Rob Fairfield as Deputy CEO, while Nordic Capital remains invested in the combined business.
A five-year step change at Qred
When Nordic Capital Evolution I invested in Qred in 2021, the company was already one of Europe’s fastest-growing fintech companies, providing financing and payment services to small businesses across the Nordics and the Netherlands. Its model combined a fully automated credit system with a digital platform tailored to entrepreneurs seeking financing.
Over the following five years, Qred evolved from a Nordic digital lender into a broader European banking platform. The company secured a full banking licence, expanded across seven European markets and broadened its offering beyond business lending into credit cards and savings products. At the core remains Qred's proprietary credit platform, which uses real-time business data to make financing decisions at scale. Throughout that expansion, the proposition has remained focused on making financing more accessible and efficient for small businesses.
For Emil Sunvisson, Group CEO, that development comes back to the original problem Qred was built to solve.
“We’re not challenging banks. We’re challenging the way the system finances small businesses. Too often, lending decisions rely on backwards-looking credit scores and paperwork that takes weeks a business doesn’t have. We use the data a business generates every day to understand its needs. Advances in AI are helping us do this faster and at greater scale, giving more small businesses a fair and timely funding decision.”
Liberis’ route to small business financing
Liberis has addressed the same underlying financing challenge through embedded distribution.
Its technology enables software providers, marketplaces, payment companies and other platforms to offer financing within the services their small business customers already use. Today, Liberis works through more than 30 partners, including Deliveroo, Vagaro and Nexi.
The underlying need remains substantial. According to Liberis's December 2025 Impact Report, based on a survey of more than 1,700 funded merchants in the UK and US, 76 percent of respondents had previously been rejected by a traditional lender at least once. 42 percent said Liberis funding had helped them create or save at least one job.
Liberis therefore adds an established distribution route through the platforms and ecosystems where small businesses already operate. Its partner-led model complements Qred's regulated banking infrastructure, deposit-funded balance sheet, underwriting capabilities and direct customer relationships.
Rob Fairfield, CEO of Liberis, describes that embedded approach as central to the company's development.
“Since 2007, Liberis has been driven by a simple belief that small and medium sized businesses should have easier access to the funding they need to thrive. By embedding financial products into the platforms businesses use every day, we've helped unlock growth at scale. Joining forces with Qred and Nordic Capital marks an exciting new chapter, one that will allow us to accelerate our mission, expand our product offering, and support even more entrepreneurs around the world.”
Bringing the two models together
By 2026, Qred had established the regulated banking platform behind its direct model, while Liberis had built significant international embedded distribution. The merger brings together capabilities developed independently over many years.
The ambition is to build a broader financial offering spanning term loans, revenue-based financing, working capital and cards across direct and embedded channels, with scope to extend that offering across a wider geographic footprint over time.
For Nordic Capital, the merger builds on the original investment thesis in Qred and a longer-term conviction in small business finance. The focus now is on connecting the capabilities of the two businesses while preserving the strengths of each model. Qred's regulated banking infrastructure and direct customer relationships, combined with Liberis's embedded distribution, provide a broader base from which to develop products, enter markets and reach small businesses through different channels.
Emil Anderson, Partner, Nordic Capital Advisors, sees the opportunity in what the two businesses can now build together.
"Qred and Liberis have each built strong positions through a combination of technology, innovation and a relentless focus on serving small businesses. What excites us is not only the strength of the two businesses today, but the opportunity to support the management teams as they build something even more significant together. Nordic Capital believes the combined company has the potential to become a leading platform in SMB finance internationally."