LendingCrowd raises £100m to support SME growth and recovery
- Fintech lending platform agrees largest deal in its history
- Funding secured from Barclays Bank PLC and a large global investment firm
- Money will be loaned to SMEs through the Recovery Loan Scheme and its
core business lending product to fuel both recovery and growth
LendingCrowd, the
fintech SME lending platform, has closed a funding deal with Barclays Bank PLC,
and a large global investment firm to support SMEs across Britain as they recover
from the coronavirus pandemic and return to growth.
The funding will be delivered
via the British Business Bank’s Recovery Loan Scheme (RLS), for which
LendingCrowd has now been accredited as a lender, and also through its popular
term lending product.
The Recovery Loan Scheme
is designed to support access to finance for UK businesses as they recover and
grow following the pandemic. Funds from the scheme can be used for any
legitimate business purpose, including managing cashflow, growth and
investment. It is designed to appeal to businesses that can afford to take out
additional finance for these purposes.
LendingCrowd has now
started to deploy this funding to SMEs across Britain. The company will provide
RLS loans
up to £500,000 over a three, four or five-year term. The new funding agreement represents
the biggest capital markets deal in LendingCrowd’s eight-year history, with
operations expanding and headcount growing by a third to manage the provision
of this funding to the SMEs that need it most.
Stuart
Lunn, founder and CEO of LendingCrowd, said: “It is hard to imagine a
more difficult business environment than the past 18-24 months, which has seen
many small and medium-sized businesses severely limited in how much they can
trade, and trying to operate under rapidly changing restrictions, through no
fault of their own.
“Many
of these SMEs are good, solid businesses that desperately need some extra support.
However, there remains a significant unmet demand for business lending, particularly in
the £250,000 to £500,000 space. It is crucial for businesses, and for our wider
economic recovery, that this demand is properly served.
“We have invested
in our tech-enabled lending platform and, together with our funding partners, we will offer
businesses automated checks, faster decisions and competitive rates for small
business loans. This saves time and hassle for customers, accountants and
intermediaries who support these SME borrowers.
“The next few years will require a real collective effort to get our economy back on track – at LendingCrowd we are determined to play our part.”
Those who wish to apply for a business loan, including RLS, through LendingCrowd can do so here: https://www.lendingcrowd.com/recovery-loan-scheme
The Recovery Loan Scheme is managed by the British Business Bank on behalf of, and with the financial backing of, the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. British Business Bank plc is a development bank wholly owned by HM Government. It is not authorised or regulated by the PRA or the FCA. Visit british-business-bank.co.uk/recovery-loan-scheme
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Published at Thu, 10 Feb 2022 04:56:49 -0600
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By sixtygp on 2022-04-01 09:07:54