"Funding Circle offers strategic partners across multiple verticals the opportunity to build value-added services by leveraging our core technology, strong underwriting and customer-first approach to deliver unique financing solutions for their small business customers"
"Building a rich and diverse partner ecosystem is a core part of our growth strategy, and we are proud to welcome strong brands like H&R Block onto our platform who share our values and mission to help small businesses grow and prosper."
The partnership allows H&R’s customers to connect with Funding Circle’s accredited investors and receive funding within 10 days – an opportunity that 10,000 have already taken advantage of.
Jeremy Smith – Director of Block Small Businesses – remarked on the compatibility of the two companies:
"The mission of our two organizations are very similar”
"We both provide services to small businesses that enable successful, sustainable growth. Given that we do the accounting for service businesses with less than $20MM in revenue, our clients have found it difficult to get loans from traditional banks. Well, Funding Circle specializes in lending to these types of businesses; so now our clients have a go-to source for capital to grow their businesses."
The news is not the first of Funding Circle partnering up. In the UK the platform has entered into referral schemes with RBS and PwC. Perhaps the US arm is following the UK’s origination formula. But news of platforms connecting with third party partners goes beyond Funding Circle, of course, with recent examples including tie ups in Australia, the US and China. As the sector develops, peer-to-peer lending appears to be becoming increasingly integrated and at one with mainstream channels in the US, and indeed worldwide.
