After 5 years, 4 months and 10 days marketplace lender Funding Circle hit £1 billion lent, and now, a mere 9 months later, the platform blogged its newest record, £1.5 billion lent.
Funding Circle investors numbering over 50,000 have helped more than 16,000 businesses across the country. Independent research published by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) revealed that since launching in 2010, Funding Circle investors have also helped create over 40,000 jobs, build approximately 2,200 family homes, like Forth Homes in Merseyside, and boost economic activity (measured by GVA) by £2.7 billion.
Co-founded by Sam Hodges, Samir Desai and Christian Grobe, Funding Circle has raised $300 million of equity capital since 2010, and its backers collectively manage over $5 trillion and are the leading venture capital firms behind Facebook, Twitter, Skype and Betfair. Current equity investors include Accel Partners, Baillie Gifford, BlackRock, DST Global, Index Ventures, Ribbit Capital, Sands Capital, Temasek and Union Square Ventures.
Funding Circle’s infographic below illustrates the impact lending is having and has on the UK economy:
