Young peer to peer lending platform, Money&Co., founded by City Super Woman Nicola Horlick, believes it has set a record of sorts. The direct lender was launched in the spring of 2014 and to date has facilitated about £6 million in loans. According to Money&Co.;
“We believe we have set a record for “pure” peer-to-peer (P2P) business lending at Money&Co. In the first year of facilitating loans (after months of preparation and we and administrative-system design) we facilitated some £6 million-worth of P2P loans.”
In the US institutional money dominates the direct lending space. While commencing as true “peer to peer”, today over 75% of applied capital comes from hedge funds, asset managers, family offices and more. Not so in the UK (but this is quickly changing). Today much of the sector is still dominated by individuals – as platforms match lender to borrower.
Money&Co. states that “there may be new entrants into the P2P loan market that have facilitated more loans, but we believe none has managed to do this level of business without institutional support.”
Money&Co. focuses on SME loans of up to £3 million. Businesses need to have a bit of a record and have profitability in the past year to qualify. Horlick recently stated;
“The banks aren’t really there at the moment [for small and medium-sized enterprises]… though it’s not really their fault. [We provide credit] for companies that don’t have access to the capital markets, who used to rely on the banks…”
