P2P property lender Blend Network secures £120m from family offices

After raising £10m in equity just months ago, peer-to-peer property lending platform Blend Network has secured a funding line of £120m.

The money comes from six large family offices, and will be used to boost lending capability to support mid-size developers in the UK.

This shows a recognition among investors of an “urgent need for liquidity” among mid-sized housebuilders across the UK, according to Blend.

“This commitment from family offices is a great show of support for Blend Network and endorsement to the work we have been doing by supporting SME property developers in the UK,” Blend CEO Yann Murciano told AltFi.

“We now look forward to stepping up our work and being able to reach as many developers as possible to help tackle the UK’s housing crisis.”

Founded in 2018 with the aim of helping to solve the housing crisis by bringing more funding to the property market, Blend still aims to alleviate the national housing shortage.

It hopes to do this by offering more support to mid-sized residential property developers across the UK to boost their lending capital, which will in turn make greater contributions to solve this issue.

“This fresh funding line will allow us to not only boost our origination capability significantly but also widen the breadth of services that we offer property brokers to assist them in sourcing attractive lending opportunities,” Muricano said.

Since 2019, Blend has doubled its lending volumes annually and took advantage of its position as a “solution-focused lender” to record zero loss on its loans throughout the pandemic. 

This investment marks a move for Blend towards digitising its lending process, which it says now makes up more than 90 per cent of its funding base.

The company’s longstanding investors also include OakNorth Bank chairman Cyrus Ardalan and Brevan Howard co-founder Jean-Philippe Blochet.