LendingCrowd strikes £19m small business deal with Scottish Investment Bank and Dutch lender

LendingCrowd has struck a deal with the Scottish Investment Bank (SIB) and Dutch lender NIBC to provide almost £19m of funds to small businesses in Scotland and across the UK.

The Edinburgh-based fintech said the deal will see SIB and NIBC make £18.75m funding available through its platform to small firms throughout the country.

LendingCrowd, which makes small business loans of up to £500,000, said it can make a lending decision in 24 hours and provide a firm with funds within ten days.

This is the second lending deal between LendingCrowd and SIB, following a £2.75m funding agreement for small businesses three years ago.

Fintechs have become important lenders to small firms since the financial crisis, after high street banks scaled back their loans to this sector, fearing defaults.

LendingCrowd funder and chief executive Stuart Lunn (pictured) said: “We’ve had a record number of requests for funding from British businesses so far this year, showing that the appetite for alternative sources of finance to fund their ambitions only seems to be getting stronger.”

SIB director Kerry Sharp added: “Having worked with LendingCrowd since 2016, we are delighted they have successfully grown their alternative funding operations to attract significant international funding, increasing and broadening the supply of capital to our small and medium sized entrepreneurs.”  

LendingCrowd, founded in 2014, has originated over 660 loans over that period totalling £57m.

NIBC runs retail and small business operations in the Netherlands, Germany and the UK.

In April, the British Business Bank said it would provide £200m “for high growth businesses as the UK leaves the European Union” through British digital business bank OakNorth.