Last week, Funding Circle celebrated seven years of operation. Launched in August of 2010, three friends from university concocted the concept of peer to peer lending in support of UK SMEs. That first year of operation saw a mere £2 million in loans originated.
Today, Funding Circle has helped to provide financing for more than 32,000 small businesses based in the UK, Germany, the Netherlands and the US. Funding Circle reports that 69,000 individuals and institutions are now lending on their platform. The company estimates that their lending service has supported the creation of around 80,000 new jobs (globally). That is a good thing. Small and medium businesses are the life-blood of most all economies. SMEs stall and so does economic growth. Funding Circle was born out of the ashes of the Great Recession when more traditional banking providers had pulled back lending – just when we needed it most.
Backed by over £250 million in equity capital, Funding Circle has originated approximately £2.6 billion in loans to UK businesses. A significant leap from that first £2 million
