What makes Funding Circle unique?

Funding Circle is a lending platform where SMEs come to borrow and institutional investors come to lend. 

SMEs are a key driver of communities, society and economies. Yet access to the finance they need to support their aspirations and operations is often restricted, with SMEs making up around half of UK and US GDP, but only a fraction of bank lending (<2% in our markets).

Our sustainable differentiation comes from our data and technology:

A growing data lake of 2.5bn data points, including proprietary data from over one million loan applications, and behavioural and performance data from over 200,000 loans

Helping us to develop and apply ever more accurate modelling, (now 9th generation in the UK and 5th in the US)

Leading to more instant lending decisions (>70%), optimising borrower access to finance and improving customer experience and conversion

While also outperforming traditional bureau scores by as much as three times, and delivering strong loan returns; demonstrating a proven platform

Delivering a competitive advantage earned from over 13 years of SME lending

For SME borrowers

Funding Circle provides a leading-edge customer experience (Net Promoter Score of 75), from a trusted provider (Trustpilot score of 4.6), delivered through its technology, machine learning, and data science, coupled with a supportive human touch. Our term loans and flexible credit solutions continue to help customers access the affordable funding they need to thrive, both quickly and conveniently.

For banks, asset managers & institutional funding providers

Our platform facilitates access to an alternative asset class in an underserved market, and delivers both robust and attractive returns, as well as reduced cost of funding for leveraged investments. Established in 2010, Funding Circle is the UK's leading SME lending platform and hs extended over £13 billion of credit to c.100,000 businesses. With a total addressable market of £84 billion for term loans and £1.3 trillion of SME B2B payments, the opportunity is large.

Highlights

75

Customer Net Promoter Score

4.6

Trustpilot score

£13.6bn

Credit extended to date

>£1.3 trillion

SME B2B payments market opportunity 

£84bn

Term loans addressable market opportunity 

Our strategy

The business is at an exciting inflection point. High operational gearing, through scalability of our fintech platform, improves profitability and returns on equity from the strong growth opportunities for the business. This is driven particularly by our medium-term strategy, which focuses on three key areas:

  • Attract more businesses — through an expanded product set, focused brand investment and continued strengthening of existing channels;
  • Say yes to more businesses — by improving both SME coverage and borrower conversion: including use of our Marketplace for lending that falls outside our normal parameters; new customer segments; and improvements in process; and
  • #1 in new products — leveraging the platform through a multi-product approach, including our FlexiPay product (line of credit and card) and new Funding Circle Cashback Business Credit Card.

ESG

Environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) and sustainability are being further embedded into the core of our business. With Board level oversight and executive level ESG management incentives, our global ESG framework is being driven by efforts focused on four key areas:

  • Climate change and environment;
  • Diversity, equity and inclusion;
  • Social impact; and
  • Governance and risk management