Landbay opens Seedrs round to new investors as chief eyes IPO

LANDBAY has announced that it is opening its latest equity funding round to new investors on Seedrs, as its chief executive unveils the company’s flotation ambitions.

The peer-to-peer lender, which specialises in buy-to-let mortgages, has already raised its target of £1.25m from this funding round but it has been opened up again to new investors.

The London-based firm said on Thursday that the money raised would be used to invest in its technology and distribution capability.

“It is only natural and right to open this equity round up to retail investors, inspiring people to see the possibilities in property investment,” said John Goodall (pictured), chief executive and co-founder of Landbay.

“Over the past 18 months the business has matured significantly and we now have the mortgage funding, intermediary partners, technology and capacity in place to support the continued expansion of the company. Our sights are now set on becoming a publicly listed company in the future.”

Landbay recently hit the £100m cumulative lending milestone, with over 25 per cent of that amount having been originated in the last three months. It said that it expects to hit profitability in the fourth quarter of this year thanks to “significant growth” in revenue and profit.

If Landbay does fulfil its flotation plans, it is likely to follow in the footsteps of a number of P2P lenders. Funding Circle is widely expected to go public later this year, while fellow ‘big three’ platforms RateSetter and Zopa have also indicated their long-term plans for a stock market flotation.

Landbay has completed a number of funding rounds on Seedrs, most recently last August. It also raised money on the equity crowdfunding platform in 2013 and 2016.