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Person-to-person lending platform Funding Circle raises $100M round
Brushing aside worries about fallout from the United Kingdom’s Brexit vote last year, person-to-person lending platform provider Funding Circle Ltd. has raised $100 million in a late and large Series F round led by Accel Partners.
Founded in 2010, Funding Circle connects small businesses who want to borrow with investors who want to lend. The company enables investors to lend small amounts to multiple creditworthy businesses to spread their risk while at the same time allowing businesses to get lower interest rates by borrowing from a multitude of people through an auction mechanism.
Lenders can grant loans to specific businesses in their communities or markets and match them to specific criteria should they desire, such environmentally friendliness.
Catering to small businesses seeking money has been highly successful for Funding Circle. The company has facilitated loans of more than $1.4 billion in 2016, with $485 million in the fourth quarter alone, the latter representing growth of 90 percent year-on-year.
The number of investors putting their money into Funding Circle now tallies over 60,000 and includes individuals, local and national governments, the European Investment Bank and financial institutions such as pension funds.
“Today’s news is the next step on our journey to create a category-defining company that helps thousands of small businesses access finance and create jobs,” Funding Circle Chief Executive Officer and co-founder Samir Desai said in a statement sent to SiliconANGLE. “Over the next 12 months, lending through the Funding Circle platform will create a further 50,000 new jobs, supporting economic growth in the U.K., U.S. and continental Europe.”
Including the new round, Funding Circle has raised $373.24 million to date. The round included existing investors Baillie Gifford, DST Global, Index Ventures, Ribbit Capital, Rocket Internet, Sands Capital Ventures, Temasek and Union Square Ventures.
The company said it would use the new funding to continue growing its market presence, including potential expansion into new territories through growth or acquisition.
Image credit: 59937401@N07/Flickr/CC by 2.0
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