Skype founder invests £17m in bridging lender

LendInvest has completed a £17m equity investment from Atomico, the venture capital (VC) firm founded by Niklas Zennstrom, the co-founder of Skype.

It is LendInvest’s second equity investment in nine months.

In June 2015, the short-term mortgage lender secured a £22m investment from Beijing Kunlun, the Chinese technology company.

Christian Faes, Co-Founder & CEO of LendInvest, described the backing from Atomico as an “awesome opportunity”.

“Atomico is a rare example of a VC firm whose founder has first-hand experience of building a multi-billion dollar, fast growth technology company, and that was hugely attractive to us,” said Christian.  

“We have only scratched the surface of how technology will make mortgages a better, faster and more transparent consumer experience for borrowers and investors.”

Mattias Ljungman, Partner at Atomico, added: “London is a global leader in FinTech, raising almost $1 billion (approximately £700m) in VC funding in 2015 alone.

“LendInvest is a great example of what can be achieved through FinTech technology, opening up the world of lending and mortgages to a new generation of tech savvy consumers.”

LendInvest was launched in 2013 and has lent £560m to finance over 2,100 properties in the UK.