ThinCats P2P exit forces founder to suspend social enterprise
A social enterprise peer-to-peer lending platform launched by the founder of ThinCats has had to close due to the platform exiting the retail market.
Thincats was launched in 2011 by Kevin Caley (pictured) before ESF Capital took a controlling stake in 2015.
Caley started Community Chest in 2016 to fund social investment ventures through the ThinCats platform.
Loans were eligible for Social Investment Tax Relief (SITR) at 30 per cent in the first year of a three-year loan but the site has had to stop operating due to ThinCats closing to retail P2P lenders.
“Community Chest Ltd was established to organise crowdfunding for social enterprises and community businesses through the ThinCats.com P2P lending platform,” Caley said.
“We have been forced to suspend operations at Community Chest for the time being because ThinCats have closed their P2P platform to retail lenders but we still hope to find a way to re-start the project.”
Read more: More firms withdrawing P2P regulatory applications
Caley said if Community Chest does restart it would focus on the Midlands.
Meanwhile, ThinCats has denied speculation that it has also closed its investor forum.
The forum has been down for the past week but the platform said this is down to technical issues that are being addressed.