It was reported in the Sunday Times last week that Funding Circle is looking to raise £50m within the next two months. This deal would push Funding Circle’s valuation beyond the $1bn mark.
Now more speculative details have emerged in a report from Sky News. It has reported that Funding Circle is looking to raise over £50m in new capital. £30m will come from selling a stake in the platform to Temasek, the Singaporean sovereign wealth fund. Temasek has invested in some of the world’s most valuable tech companies, including Alibaba.
Blackrock, the world’s biggest fund manager, and Baillie Gifford, the asset management group, are also expected to be participating in the £50m deal.
Currently Funding Circle’s investors include Index Ventures, Accel, Union Square Ventures and Ribbit Capital. They were part of a Series D funding round in July last year that raised $65 million for the platform.
According to AltFi Data Funding Circle has lent £588m and when we see an exact valuation we would expect Funding Circle’s valuation to be tied fairly closely to the sum of its cumulative transactions. When taking into account Funding Circle’s US operations the platform may reach the $1bn mark in terms of cumulative lending very soon.
Funding Circle has not commented on this speculation but we will be watching to see how it develops.
