Starling Bank provides £300m CBILS lending pot to Funding Circle

Starling Bank and Funding Circle have entered into a strategic partnership to provide £300m of lending to small businesses under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS). 

Starling will lend through Funding Circle’s platform,  alongside other institutional investors, to SMEs looking to access the government-backed loans scheme.

Both Starling and Funding Circle were recently accredited to the CBILS, following what many commentators said was an unfortunately lengthy delay for fintech lenders eager to help distribute funds. 

Anne Boden, Chief Executive of Starling Bank said the firm is pursuing “every avenue... to get this [CBILs] money into the hands of small business owners”. 

“This partnership with Funding Circle provides us with another outlet, on top of our own CBILS and BBLS lending, to help meet the needs of business owners affected by coronavirus. It’s a great example of the fintech industry pulling together to meet a very urgent need,” she added.

Funding Circle says it has lent more than £8.5bn to over 81,000 businesses globally.