LendInvest Raises £17m

LendInvest has closed a £17m Series B equity investment round.

The investment comes courtesy of Atomico, the technology venture capital firm founded by Niklas Zennström – Co-Founder of Skype. The money will be used primarily to bolster the platform’s technological infrastructure. LendInvest is recruiting its first Senior VP of Engineering and is looking to expand both its technology and product teams.

The platform last raised money as recently as June 2015 in a Series A round that saw Beijing Kunlun invest £22m. Beijing Kunlun is a technology company that is listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. 

LendInvest has lent a little shy of £560m to date, with a three month market share of around 11% within the UK peer-to-peer lending space, according to the Liberum AltFi Volume Index UK. The platform – which lends to professional landlords and developers – faces a period of potential turbulence, with Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) set to increase by 3% for purchases of additional residential properties on 1 April. However, LendInvest representatives have thus far appeared largely untroubled by the changes. The platform has even gone so far as to turn the impending tax hike to its advantage, by continuing to field borrower applications at a time when incumbent lenders are for the most part shutting up shop until the SDLT changes come into effect.

Atomico Partner and Co-Founder Mattias Ljungman will be joining LendInvest’s Board as a Director. He has previously taken active roles in a number of Atomico’s portfolio companies, including Klarna and Supercell. Mr. Ljungman commented:

“London is a global leader in fintech, raising almost $1 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.”