Ex-Funding Circle exec raises £7m to launch SME lender Triver

Funding Circle’s former chief risk officer Jerome Le Luel has raised £7m equity to launch SME-lending platform Triver.

Founder and CEO Le Luel, who previously held senior roles at Barclays and Capital One, was also head of lending at the fintech unicorn and left last year after almost seven years to start Triver, a new startup offering small business instant capital “in a click”.

Making use of open banking data and AI technology, Triver funds SMEs’ short-term working capital needs, offering access to finance equivalent to up to 20 per cent of the annual turnover.

“Existing short-term finance solutions rarely fully satisfy small businesses. Yet it’s not a simple puzzle to solve,” Le Luel said.

“SMEs have complex cash flow management and underwriting their credit risk automatically is very hard —  it has not been a priority for banks. 

“But at Triver, we’ve cracked the code. Using open banking and artificial intelligence we are revolutionising how SMEs access finance and are partnering with digital service providers already trusted by these businesses.” 

Le Luel’s founding team brings experience from Barclays,MarketFinance, CreditKarma, Capital One and BCG to the startup, which is backed by Stride, the VC firm that backed-early stage businesses including Deliveroo and Zoopla.

Other seed investors include Axeleo Capital and Motive Partners, with scout investment from Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia Capital, and angel investors including Triver non-executive director Dan Cobley,ClearScore co-founder and former Google UK MD.

“With millions of small businesses in the UK, there is a huge underserved market for SME finance — primarily due to antiquated lending processes,” Stride.VC founder Fred Destin said.

“The right data and technology is now available to radically change this. With Triver we will make lending to the founders and business owners of the real economy way more efficient and economical.”