The lender has committed £15m of this total to Manchester alone.

The company has seen its lending to small businesses in the North of England increase by 89% per year over the past three years.

In Manchester, lending by iwoca has surged by 65% per year over the same period.

Christoph Rieche, co-founder and CEO of iwoca (pictured above), said: “Micro businesses are the powerhouse of the UK’s economy.

“While these businesses have been feeling the pinch, large corporations and consumers have enjoyed record high levels of access to capital.

•   SME lender secures £20m block discounting package from Aldermore
•   Carpet and flooring business secures £15m ABL facility
•   Folk2Folk reaches £200m lending milestone

“The banks claim that small businesses are simply not interested in credit products.

“In reality, the banks discourage these businesses from taking finance through lengthy and cumbersome application forms, and rigid and unfair lending criteria.

“iwoca understands the needs of small businesses.

“That's why our applications are simple and straightforward, and we have built technology to make faster and fairer lending decisions, breaking the barriers small businesses face to accessing finance.”

Since its launch in 2012, iwoca has issued over £350m to more than 15,000 businesses in the UK, Poland and Germany.