UK-based online property finance marketplace LendInvest has completed a GBP17 million (USD25 million) Series B equity investment from Atomico, the technology venture capital firm founded by Niklas Zennström, the co-founder of Skype.
This is LendInvest’s second equity investment in nine months. In June 2015, LendInvest secured a GBP22 million (USD33 million) Series A investment from Beijing Kunlun, the listed Chinese technology company.
The round takes LendInvest’s total institutional funding (debt and equity) to over GBP200 million (USD285 million).
LendInvest was launched in 2013 by founders Christian Faes and Ian Thomas, and has lent GBP560 million to finance 2,100 properties in the UK. Faes and Thomas were the first to bring the speed and efficiency of online marketplace (or ‘peer-to-peer’) lending to the UK mortgage market – a GBP1.3 trillion sector that is traditionally offline, slow and generally a very poor consumer experience.
Today LendInvest’s technology reduces the time taken to process mortgages from months to days, while maintaining rigorous credit controls. LendInvest has also opened up mortgages as a new and attractive asset class that delivers returns of over 5% per annum for investors.
LendInvest will use this funding to accelerate its investment in technology and extend its lead in the property finance market. The company is recruiting its first Senior VP of Engineering and will expand its technology and product teams.
Christian Faes, Co-Founder & CEO of LendInvest, says: “To receive this backing from Atomico is an awesome opportunity for LendInvest. Atomico is a rare example of a VC firm whose founder has first-hand experience of building a multi-billion dollar, fast growth technology company, and that was hugely attractive to us. We have only scratched the surface of how technology will make mortgages a better, faster and more transparent consumer experience for borrowers and investors.”
Atomico Partner and co-founder, Mattias Ljungman, will join LendInvest’s Board as a Director. Mattias launched Atomico alongside Niklas Zennström in 2006 and has taken active roles in several of Atomico’s portfolio companies including Klarna and Supercell.
Mattias Ljungman, Partner at Atomico, adds: “London is a global leader in fintech, raising almost USD1 billion in VC funding in 2015 alone. LendInvest is a great example of what can be achieved through fintech technology, opening up the world of lending and mortgages to a new generation of tech savvy consumers.
“We're impressed with Christian and Ian's vision and ambition to disrupt the established lending industry. Their lending and borrowing marketplace is bringing speed, efficiency and transparency to a traditionally cumbersome process. We're excited about working with the team to ensure that their great product is underpinned by the best technology, and to take their business to the next level.”
LendInvest was advised on the deal by a team at GP Bullhound led by Claudio Alvarez, Director.
