Over the last year we have seen very active interest in alternative financing from the Baltic companies. Such interest has been helped by the increasing passivity from the banks despite steadily growing economic conditions. Companies increasingly accept and learn to use the alternative lending and venture capital products in their businesses.
As a result, we have been delighted to offer our capital to 342 companies providing financing for the total amount of EUR 20 million. This is 34% more than we issued in the previous year. Of the funded companies 60% have been in Latvia, 30% in Lithuania and 10% in Estonia. Over the last year the largest deal that we funded was EUR 580 thousand. A working capital for increasing manufacturing output was provided to the regional leader of paint and varnish manufacturing - Eskaro, based in Estonia.
Among other companies that benefited from our financing were Pure Chocolate (sweets manufacturing), Peruza (industrial equipment production), Svaros Broliai (carwash and cleaning services) and Aerodium (wind tunnel manufacturing). Together with a leading Lithuanian venture capital fund Practica Capital we provided expansion capital to a fast-growing Latvian education technology company Edurio. In most cases alternative financing from Capitalia was used in parallel and in addition to bank loan products. A typical use of attracted capital would be for execution of a large contract, acquisition of new manufacturing equipment or balancing cash flow situations.
We are deeply thankful to our investors and clients for another successful year and are looking forward for new milestones and challenges in year 2020!