Where are Funding Circle’s three founders?
Funding Circle was founded in 2010 by Samir Desai, Andrew Mullinger and James Meekings (pictured).
The three were friends at Oxford University and famously came up with the idea for the peer-to-peer business lending platform in a pub in London.
They put £60,000 of their combined savings into the business and raised £700,000 from a dozen investors, including friends, and friends of friends, to allow them to build the technology platform behind the website, and to then market the company and launch it.
Following today’s news that Funding Circle’s chief executive and co-founder Samir Desai is stepping down after 12 years at the helm, Peer2Peer Finance News takes a look back at the formation of the company and where the three founders are now.
Read more: Funding Circle launches payment product
Samir Desai
Desai has announced that he will be stepping down as chief executive after 12 years in the role and will transition to a new position as non-executive director on 1 January 2022.
UK managing director Lisa Jacobs will take over as chief executive, with Desai saying that he is leaving the business “in the strongest place it’s ever been”.
Prior to his time at the platform, he was a private equity investor in financial services businesses and worked as a management consultant for global retail banks, investment banks, private equity firms and consumer goods companies.
James Meekings
Meekings stepped down as UK managing director in September 2019 and was replaced by Lisa Jacobs, who at the time was the firm’s chief strategy officer.
Prior to taking over the helm of the UK business, Meekings was chief marketing officer and then chief commercial officer.
Before Funding Circle, he worked at OC&C Strategy Consultants and as a bid consultant within England 2018, the team bidding for England to host the FIFA World Cup in 2018.
Andrew Mullinger
Mullinger describes himself as semi-retired on Twitter, as well as serving on the boards of Big Education, LIS and AskIf.
At Funding Circle, he was responsible for risk management but stepped back in 2016, with Jerome De Luel taking over as chief risk officer.
Similarly to Desai, Mullinger worked in risk consultancy prior to Funding Circle. He has worked as an executive, regulatory and risk management for Ernst & Young, which is now EY, and as an analyst at global investment bank Citi.