Funding Circle secures £82m investment

Funding Circle secures £82m investment




Peer-to-peer (P2P) lender Funding Circle has raised approximately £82m in equity capital.

The funding round was led by Accel, with additional contributions from existing investors, including Baillie Gifford, Ribbit Capital and Union Square Ventures.

This latest investment comes less than a week after the firm secured £40m in funding from British Business Bank Investments.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond said: “Funding Circle has become a real success story for British fintech and news that it has attracted £80m of investment is further evidence of the growing importance of this industry.

“This is another vote of confidence in a UK firm that plays an important role in our economy – helping businesses to grow and create jobs.”

Funding Circle’s recent flurry of investment follows a 90% year-on-year rise in growth during the fourth quarter of 2016.

In the same period, the firm lent approximately £400m to small businesses, bringing its total for 2016 to more than £1.1bn.

Samir Desai, CEO and co-founder of Funding Circle, added: “[This] 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.

“Over the next 12 months, lending through the Funding Circle platform will create a further 50,000 new jobs, supporting economic growth in the UK, US and continental Europe.”

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