Spanish marketplace lending platform, LoanBook, closed its equity crowdfunding campaign on Crowdcube with a total of £737,450 from 297 investors. The funding round was launched in November and looked to raise £650,000. As previously reported, LoanBook was founded in 2013 and claims to be Spain’s largest marketplace lending platform, with a 4-year track record of working capital lending to Spanish SMEs and 40% market share.
“We have chosen to focus on short-term working capital loans (typically 3-12 months) as this is the product SMEs most value. It’s where we see the best risk/return for our investors – who also value the liquidity which S/T lending offers – and because the business processes involved in S/T lending can be almost entirely automated, allowing us to drive down costs and scale our business efficiently.”
LoanBook noted it has financed more than €40 million of loans since launch and has doubled its volumes in each of the last three years, whilst achieving annual net returns of over 5% for the investors. Prior to achieving its Crowdcube funding target, the online lender announced it has formed a partnership with Sage, a cloud computing, payroll and payments software company, to offer Sage’s Spanish customers a direct, in-product channel to request working capital loans from €25,000 to €250,000.
“Sage’s customers will benefit from a streamlined borrowing process as LoanBook will have access to customer data in order to improve the quality and speed of its underwriting – a key improvement for many SMEs seeking credit.”
All funds from the Crowdcube campaign will be used to continue LoanBook’s platform growth and development.
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