P2P lenders sweep industry awards nominations
Peer-to-peer lenders, small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME) lenders, and other alternative finance providers have racked up 27 nominations in the Business Moneyfacts Awards, in the latest sign that alternative finance is becoming more mainstream.
The shortlist of nominees was announced today, and includes three nominations for P2P bridging lender Kuflink, three for specialist mortgage lender LendInvest, three for business lender Assetz Capital, and three for P2P giant Funding Circle.
SME lender Nucleus Commercial Finance has been nominated in six different categories, while former P2P lending platforms Landbay and ThinCats have been given two nominations each.
Invoice finance and business loan provider MarketFinance has one nomination, as has property lender PropLend, rural lender Folk2Folk, SME lender iwoca, and crowdfunded lending platform SoMo, which rebranded last year from The BridgeCrowd.
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Assetz Capital, Folk2Folk, Funding Circle, iwoca, Kuflink, Nucleus Commercial Finance, Proplend, SoMo and ThinCats are all competing to win the Best Service from an Alternative Funding Provider award.
Assetz Capital, Funding Circle, Kuflink, Nucleus Commercial Finance and ThinCats are also in the running for Best Alternative Business Funding Provider, along with MarketFinance.
Nucleus Commercial Finance has been shortlisted for Best Asset Based Lender, and Best Service from an Invoice Finance Provider. It is also a finalist in the Innovation in the SME Sector category for its myNucleus portal, which offers online employee timesheet software.
Kuflink’s bridging service has also made the shortlist for the Best Service Provider from a Development Finance Provider category.
Assetz Capital and LendInvest will go head to head in the Best Development Finance Provider category.
LendInvest is up against alternative property lender Landbay for Best Service from a Buy-to-Let Mortgage Provider, and Landbay has also been recognised on the shortlist for Best Buy-to-Let Mortgage Provider.
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Funding Circle, LendInvest, and Nucleus Commercial Finance have all been nominated in the Best SME Finance Technology category.
“A year unlike any we have seen before has provided challenges to the economy and the business sector that no one had foreseen,” said Lee Tillcock, editor of Business Moneyfacts.
“While Brexit negotiations continued and finally completed, Covid-19 caused businesses, brokers and providers to re-evaluate the ways in which they undertook their working lives.
“This process has seen those product and service providers embrace the challenges and continue to support businesses whenever possible and the 20th annual Business Moneyfacts awards will recognise those who have offered the best products and services in their specific sectors.”
The winners are due to be announced on 15 April 2021 at a gala dinner in London.
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