Funding Circle reported originations of 306 million British pounds ($375.12 million) in the fourth quarter of 2016; originations accounted for 36% of lending from the Peer-to-Peer Finance Association's (P2PFA) member firms; the platform's lending is close to surpassing Zopa, the market leader in the UK; at the end of 2016 Funding Circle had originated a total of 1.8 billion British pounds ($2.21 billion) while Zopa has originated 1.9 billion British pounds ($2.33 billion); loan volume growth is expected to continue for Funding Circle in 2017 after announcing in January a 40 million British pound ($49.04 million) investment commitment from the British Business Bank and a 100 million British pound ($122.59 million) equity investment; all of the data released by the P2PFA is available on their website. Source
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UK marketplace lender, Funding Circle, has reported a record month for loan originations in October; the platform originated £95 million worth of loans in October, reporting its highest ever monthly origination volume; the firm's previous loan origination volume record was set in September with £75.2 million in loans; the small business lender now has total loan originations of £1.62 billion. Source
The platform currently works with approximately 1,000 brokers; source reports it is focusing its efforts on brokers using the platform regularly with a new master broker system for inactive intermediaries; Funding Circle is requiring brokers to make at least one introduction to the platform per quarter. Source
The online lender has named Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Numis Corp to work on their upcoming IPO; the IPO is currently slated for the second or third quarter which may value the company around $2 billion; if successful it would be the largest IPO for a British fintech company; Index Ventures, Union Square Ventures and Accel Partners were early investors in the company. Source
Funding Circle led international P2P loan issuance in January with originations of 120.9 million euros ($130.21 million), according to data from p2p-banking.com; platform loan volume was followed by Zopa and RateSetter; Zopa reported originations of 94 million euros ($101.24 million) and RateSetter reported originations of 78 million euros ($84.01 million). Source
Funding Circle has reported cumulative originations of over 2 billion British pounds in P2P loans since its launch in 2010; it is the largest online marketplace for small business loans and has been originating approximately 100 million British pounds a month since November; its cumulative loan originations are currently just slightly less than Zopa which surpassed 2 billion British pounds in January and was the industry's first platform to launch in 2005. Source
Funding Circle is considering more securitization deals with demand currently high for asset-backed securities with marketplace loans; Funding Circle was the first to securitize its loans in the UK with its £130 million securitization deal in April 2016; Samir Desai of Funding Circle says the firm has plans to do more securitizations in the near-term. Source
The company may go public as soon as late autumn; sources state that the company will exceed a £1 billion valuation; investment banks are expected to be in place by spring; Funding Circle would be the first p2p lender in the UK to go public. Source