Swoop names Funding Circle underwriter among new hires
SWOOP has hired former Funding Circle credit underwriter Thomas Clark to join its small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME) funding platform, as one of a number of new appointments to bolster its team.
The platform, which rebranded from BisFly last year, said that Clark worked at the peer-to-peer business lender for almost six years before joining Swoop.
“He has a deep knowledge of alternative finance,” Swoop said in an email update.
“In Tom’s various roles he has presented to institutional investors, represented the company in audits exercises, recruited and managed a team and conducted in-depth financial analysis to make credit decisions.”
Other new appointments include Laura Taylor, who is joining Swoop full time after completing an internship with the platform’s equity team, and experienced finance professional Enrique Marcilio.
Swoop has also hired Conor Vallely, who previously worked in hedge fund administration, venture capital, alternative lending and invoice finance.
“The Swoop platform has got more funding providers and deals than ever before and we’ve been growing our team at Swoop to help businesses get the best deals and get funded faster,” the firm said.
“We’re delighted to introduce you to some of the new faces we’ve brought on board to bolster the debt and equity teams in Swoop to help SMEs of all sizes progress their funding needs.”
Swoop connects businesses in need of finance with over 400 lenders including peer-to-peer platforms such as Funding Circle and Growth Street.
The firm integrated with Open Banking at the start of this year, giving its small business customers the ability to compare and switch current accounts and make cost savings on everyday spending.
Last summer it became one of 12 finalists in the Open Banking Challenge, a competition funded by the main UK banks to encourage innovation using the data-sharing initiative, which mandates high street banks to share anonymised customer data with approved third parties. The group won £100,000 which it used to develop its business current account comparison and switching feature.
It says its SME users can now integrate their business bank accounts into its platform and compare accounts from the big UK banks, high street banks and challenger banks.