Funding Circle unveils £1bn funding line
FUNDING Circle has secured a new £1bn funding facility from investment firm Waterfall Asset Management.
The peer-to-peer business lender said on Friday that Waterfall will invest in £1bn of loans originated via its platform over a two-year period.
Waterfall’s investment will be partially financed by Deutsche Bank and will support approximately 14,000 small businesses, Funding Circle said.
“We are increasingly seeing substantial commitments from investors looking to purchase loans in each of our geographies,” Samir Desai (pictured), chief executive of Funding Circle, said.
“Our business model has opened up small business lending as an asset class for the first time, allowing investors such as individuals, asset managers, insurers, and government entities to earn attractive, risk-adjusted returns by lending directly to businesses.
“We look forward to working closely with Waterfall and Deutsche Bank to support the growth of even more small businesses across the UK.”
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Waterfall is an institutional asset manager focused on structured credit.
It will now join 85,000 individuals, the British Business Bank, the European Investment Bank and other financial institutions as a lender on the Funding Circle platform.
“We are excited that our partnership with Funding Circle will enable us to continue investing in small- and medium-sized enterprise loans in the UK,” Henrik Malmer, managing director at Waterfall, said.
“This segment has been underserved by traditional lenders, and Funding Circle’s platform and technology provides borrowers access to credit whilst allowing investors such as Waterfall to diversify their portfolios into an interesting and exciting asset class.”
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