Monzo has set a new Crowdcube record with fundraising from over 6,800 investors in its current fundraising campaign; firm has raised of 2.46 million British pounds ($3.06 million) and is targeting 2.47 million British pounds ($3.07 million); the crowdfunding campaign is part of a broader Series C funding round for 22 million British pounds ($27.37 million) which includes a 19.5 million British pounds ($24.26 million) investment from Thrive Capital, 5 million British pounds ($6.22 million) from Passion Capital and 1.5 million British pounds ($1.87 million) from Orange Digital Ventures; the firm has raised a total of 35 million British pounds ($43.54 million) in growth capital including a funding of 1 million British pounds ($1.24 million) in March of 2016 on Crowdcube. Source
Revolut will now offer its customers investment at property platform Bricklane; investors can invest in Bricklane tax efficient individual savings accounts for a minimum of 100 British pounds ($122); Bricklane investors receive rental income and capital appreciation from the properties they invest in. Source
The marketing initiative coincides with the firm's recent rebranding announcement and is part of the company's "Made to Do More" campaign; it is spending GBP12 million ($15.51 million) across media and specialist channels with a focus on business borrower and capital investor awareness; the firm has been a market leader in investment deals in 2017 recently announcing a partnership with Aegon and reporting a $100 million fundraising in January. Source
Deloitte's third quarter deal tracking report finds a 7% increase in UK deals for P2P lenders in the cumulative 12 months; third quarter of 2016 included 67 deals; deals in the UK increased 21% while deals in the remainder of Europe increased by 29%; the report tracks comprehensive deal activity including fundraising, mergers, acquisitions and partnerships for 50 alternative lenders across Europe. Source
Firm was given full FCA authorization at the beginning of 2017 and expects the IFISA launch to add to high current demand on the platform; says it will target financial advisers with the new offering; the lender has originated over GBP130 million ($169 million) since launching in April 2016; it focuses on secured property loans with conservative loan to value ratios of approximately 60%. Source
Goji is marketing a P2P lending bond product, the Goji Diversified P2P Lending Bond, which is targeting annual returns of greater than 5%; the firm is based in London and offers a range of services for the P2P lending industry including tools and resources for investors and financial intermediaries, an investing platform, IFISA account servicing technology for platforms and now a new P2P lending bond; the Bond will invest in a minimum of 200 loans across all options available in the UK P2P lending sector. Source
Crowdfund Insider talked with Zopa about 2016 and 2017; the firm had a successful year in 2016 despite the industry's challenges; highlights from the year included lending over 680 million British pounds ($855.02 million) to nearly 100,000 customers, becoming profitable, securitizing its first loan portfolio and announcing plans to launch a bank; in 2017 the firm plans to build on its success while also beginning plans for launching a bank with deposit accounts and overdraft alternatives by 2018; in its core business products, Zopa CEO Jaidev Janardana says the firm will be looking for new partnerships that support its auto finance, point of sale and personal loan businesses. Source
Revolut has announced a new partnership with Lending Works that will allow the mobile banking app to offer P2P loans; through the partnership, the app's mobile users can submit loan applications and receive funding; loans will be available for 500 British pounds ($608) to 5,000 British pounds ($6,079) with APRs of approximately 9.9% and Lending Works will use customer data from Revolut in loan underwriting approvals; the partnership is expected to bring a significant amount of new business for Lending Works which was launched in 2014 and has lent a total of 50 million British pounds ($61 million) to consumers. Source