Less than a week after launching its equity crowdfunding campaign on Seedrs, UK-based peer-to-peer lending startup Elfin Market successfully secured its initial 400,000 funding target. The campaign so far has attracted more than 125 Seedrs investors.
As previously reported, Elfin claims to be the world’s first peer-to-peer lending platform where borrowers get a line of credit that they may draw upon as often as they, with the same flexibility as a credit card.
“Elfin Market wants to disrupt the credit card market and offer a fair and affordable alternative to ‘traditional’ credit cards. To do that, we use peer-to-peer lending. That means we directly connect borrowers and lenders without costly intermediaries. With 5.8% representative APR, our line of flexible credit, the Elfin Purse, is 75% cheaper than the average credit card, and comes with no additional fees.”
Elfin is currently working on adding a payment card, the Elfin Card, which will be directly linked to the borrower’s Elfin Purse to make it even closer to a regular credit card. The startup revealed:
“Lenders lend their funds to our borrowers, who have all passed our strict credit checks (we’ve approved less than 7% of borrower applications so far). These funds are used to finance the flexible lines of credit our borrowers receive. Our lenders enjoy attractive returns, automated diversification and flexibility on their investments. Also, thanks to our Innovative Finance ISA, they can earn tax-free interest.”
Elfin is planning to use the Seedrs funds for the following:
- Hire 2 developers to further build up in-house capabilities, including the launch of iOS and Android apps
- Make additional hires for customer support, community management, and marketing
- Cover Elfin’s operating costs for the next year (including the launch of the Elfin Card and an increased marketing budget)
Speaking about the campaign’s quick success, Co-Founder and COO of Elfin, Lakshithe Wagalath, stated:
“We’re thrilled to announce that we reached our £400k crowdfunding target – in just over 24 hours! A huge thank you to everyone who has taken part so far! We’ve been delighted by the response to our campaign, and we’ve decided to move into overfunding. This means the campaign will remain open for now, and anyone can still invest under the same terms. We’ll use the additional funds to accelerate our growth!”
Elfin is currently offering 5.80% in equity through the funding round at a £6,502,400 pre-money valuation. The campaign is set to close at the end of February.
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