Funding Circle has now lent out $5bn globally

FUNDING Circle has announced that it has lent more than $5bn (£3.7bn) globally to small businesses, shortly after hitting the £3bn milestone in the UK.

The London-headquartered peer-to-peer lender, which also has operations in the US and Europe, said on Thursday that it has lent out more than $1bn in the US alone, becoming the first lending platform anywhere in the world to have facilitated more than $1bn across two markets.

And by hitting the $5bn milestone, it has supported 40,000 businesses across the UK, US, Germany and the Netherlands, helping to create more than 100,000 jobs.

The announcements follow a record November for Funding Circle, when it lent out more than $260m worldwide, including $175m in the UK.

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“Today’s milestones now make Funding Circle the world’s largest small business lending platform by loans outstanding and new monthly originations,” said Samir Desai (pictured), chief executive and co-founder of Funding Circle.

“We are proud to see that Funding Circle is quickly becoming the first choice for finance for small businesses globally. With revenues growing 80 per cent in 2017 and our UK business cashflow positive, we look forward to continuing to build on the strong foundations we have put in place this year and helping many more thousands of businesses in 2018.”

Desai recently told Peer2Peer Finance News that the business is planning further global expansion, with an aim to reach  £100bn a year of new lending.

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