P2P fundraising ramps up amid economic recovery
As the economy recovers from, more and more peer-to-peer lending platforms are investing in growth by undergoing funding rounds.
Here Peer2Peer Finance News summarises some of the most recent fundraising efforts, and how they will mould the post-Covid alternative finance sector.
Read more: Private debt fundraising recovers from the pandemic
CrowdProperty
In August, the P2P property lending platform raised £1.8m from an equity fundraising round, surpassing its £800,000 target to support its growth plans, deliver its technology and the launch of further products.
Following a £1.1m fundraise in March 2019 and £900,000 back in November 2017, CrowdProperty has now raised a total of £3.9m in equity capital.
Furthermore, CrowdProperty Australia is looking to raise AUS$1.25m (£665,000) in seed funding this month to scale up the business after launching in May.
JustUs
This month, the P2P platform is preparing to launch a crowdfunding campaign on Seedrs to raise at least £300,000 to be able to utilise the government’s future fund and to convert £1.2m previously raised from debt to equity.
JustUs is launching a separate crowdfunding campaign in the US at the same time and is planning to roll out its P2P lending on a state-by-state basis in the US next year.
Income
Also in August, Estonian P2P lending platform Income said it is looking to raise €1.3m from a seed funding round.
Income, which was founded in 2020 and had previously raised €1m from angel investors in a pre-seed round to launch the business, plans to use the funds to make key hires, continue product development of its retail investor marketplace and further develop its institutional investor onboarding capabilities.
Zopa
Last month, it was reported the P2P consumer lending platform hired JP Morgan to help with a £100m funding round ahead of a planned initial public offering.
Zopa would then join competitor Funding Circle as a platform listed on the London Stock Exchange.
Shojin Property Partners
In July, the P2P property lending platform said that it was looking to raise more than £8m through a Series A funding round.
The platform, which prefers to target family offices and individual investors to raise money, said the fundraise could pave the way for a stock market listing.
EstateGuru
In May, EstateGuru raised €1.3m (£1.1m) from 971 investors in a Seedrs fundraising campaign.
The European P2P lending platform said it plans to use the funds to develop an API-powered investment app, expand into two new markets and integrate its platform with other market participants.