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Unpacking the Suspension Of The Greece-Cyprus Energy Interconnection Project

The ambitious Greece-Cyprus electrical interconnection endeavor, known as the Great Sea Interconnector-2GSI, faces a temporary halt due to intensifying geopolitical tensions and financial uncertainties. This ambitious project, originally aimed at enhancing energy connectivity, now faces new challenges.

Current Challenges And Decisions

Greece’s Independent Power Transmission Operator (ADMIE) has suspended funding, citing a need to align with current geopolitical and economic realities. In July 2024, Turkish naval forces obstructed an Italian vessel conducting seabed surveys, complicating progress and resolution efforts with Turkey.

The Greek government is exploring diplomatic measures to potentially resume the project while managing financial burdens on taxpayers. An article from The Future Media highlights the broader economic dynamics in the region, which are pivotal in understanding this pause.

Stakeholder Perspectives

Both the Greek Ministry of Environment and Energy and corporate stakeholders, such as Nexans, are in accord with the suspension decision. According to Cypriot Energy Minister George Papanastasiou, protective measures are essential for ADMIE to manage finances effectively.

Despite pressures from Nexans to proceed, the Greek administration insists the project is ongoing and that the pause is for judicious progress, seeking more input from allies like France, Israel, and the US.

The Greece-Cyprus energy link remains ambitious, but regional political tensions, particularly with Turkey, could dictate its trajectory.

As we wait and watch, it’s clear that geopolitical nuances will greatly influence energy dynamics in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Finmid Raises €17 Million To Expand Embedded Lending Into Vehicle Finance And Marketplace Credit

Berlin-based embedded lending infrastructure company Finmid has raised €17 million in new funding as it broadens its business beyond working capital finance and pushes into vehicle loans and marketplace lending.

The Series A extension lifts the company’s total funding to €52 million and signals a clear strategic shift: from serving as a financing layer for short-term business credit to supporting more complex, longer-duration asset finance products across mobility and e-commerce.

From Working Capital To Larger Business Assets

Finmid enables digital platforms to offer financing to business customers without building their own lending stack. Its infrastructure covers underwriting, regulated lending and servicing, while financing capital can come from the platform itself, a banking partner or finmid’s refinancing partners.

That model has already been deployed across working capital use cases. Now, the company is extending it into categories where the stakes, ticket sizes and underwriting requirements are materially higher.

The latest capital will support expansion of finmid’s asset finance products, multi-source funding infrastructure and underwriting capabilities, with particular focus on mobility and e-commerce.

Bolt And Skroutz Become Strategic Launch Partners

The first new product is Bolt Vehicle Solutions, a financing programme developed with ride-hailing company Bolt to help fleet operators access tailored vehicle finance. The product is designed for operators who need commercial vehicles but often struggle to secure lending suited to intensive business use.

Finmid said traditional lenders can struggle to assess fleet businesses because they lack a full view of commercial performance, while standard manufacturer financing is often not built for high-utilization vehicles. The new offering is intended to close that gap by combining vehicle selection on the platform with a financing application routed through finmid.

The structure is straightforward: operators can browse vehicles available through Bolt, connect with finmid to review financing options and complete an application. The financing includes fixed monthly repayments, and ownership transfers to the operator after the final payment. In effect, a recurring operating expense becomes a path to a long-term business asset.

Finmid’s second new product is Skroutz Funding, created with Greece’s largest online marketplace to provide financing to about 9,000 merchants on the platform. Unlike previous implementations, Skroutz Group itself is supplying the capital, while finmid provides the lending infrastructure, including underwriting, regulated lending, servicing and refinancing.

Finmid described the arrangement as its first partnership in which the platform’s own balance sheet sits at the center of the financing model.

A Bet On Embedded Lending Becoming Infrastructure

For finmid, the expansion reflects a broader view of embedded lending: not as a narrow product category, but as the financial infrastructure behind the digital platforms where businesses already operate.

Alexander Talkanitsa, co-founder of finmid, said the market has evolved rapidly. “Two years ago, embedded lending meant a cash advance for a restaurant,” he said. “Today the same rails carry a multi-year vehicle loan, a marketplace’s own balance sheet, and the potential for more.”

“Every platform with business customers now has a way to become their financing partner without becoming a bank,” Talkanitsa added.

Max Schertel, co-founder of finmid, said platforms are increasingly well positioned to extend credit because they have direct visibility into business activity. “Small businesses have never lacked ambition, they’ve lacked a lender who could see them,” he said. “Platforms, with their live and embedded view of the businesses they power, are uniquely placed to fill that gap, and finmid exists to make it happen.”

“With Bolt we’re financing the cars that fleets run on; with Skroutz the marketplace itself is putting its capital behind its merchants,” Schertel added. “Our job is to make that credit safe, fast and regulated, whoever provides the money and whatever businesses need it for.”

Investor Confidence In A Capital-Light Model

The round was led by Big Pi Ventures, with Mainset also participating and existing backer Earlybird following on.

Big Pi partner Nick Kalliagkopoulos said embedded lending has become core infrastructure for digital marketplaces. “Embedded lending is now essential infrastructure for marketplaces, and finmid is built to deliver it,” he said.

He pointed to finmid’s capital-light structure and regional footprint as key advantages. “Their capital light structure lets them grow quickly, and their licensing and geographic foothold make them a partner marketplaces can plug in once and scale everywhere,” he said. “Their traction in southeast Europe, a region many overlook despite its size, is proof of how much whitespace is still out there.”

Momentum Across Europe

Since launching, finmid says it has extended more than €4 billion in financing offers to businesses across 30 European markets. Its partner list includes Wolt, Delivery Hero, myPOS and efood.

The company says around 85% of borrowers return for additional financing, while businesses using its financing products have increased revenue on partner platforms by as much as 45%.

The new funding follows finmid’s €23 million Series A in April 2024 and comes as the company seeks to deepen its presence across Europe. Its next phase of growth will focus on new asset classes and additional platform categories, especially in mobility and e-commerce.

For finmid, the message is clear: embedded lending is moving beyond short-term cash flow support and into the financing of assets, fleets and marketplace ecosystems. The opportunity now is not just to lend more, but to become the operating layer through which platforms finance the businesses they power.

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