Funding Circle to raise £300m through London listing

The firm offers loans to small businesses across the UK, United States and Germany and plans to use the proceeds from its listing to enter new markets.

The initial public offering (IPO) will comprise new shares to be issued by the company and an offer of existing shares to be sold by certain existing shareholders, directors and employees.

As part of the share sale, Danish billionaire Anders Povlsen will take a 10 percent stake in the firm. His holding company, Heartland, is a major investor in online fashion retailers Asos and Zalando.

Funding Circle’s business model allows small businesses to apply to borrow from a pool of cash supplied by individuals and firms, without involving banks.

According to its listing notice, Funding Circle has facilitated more than £5bn in loans to more than 50,000 SMEs from 80,000 investors, including over £1bn in the first half of 2018.

Samir Desai, chief executive and co-founder of Funding Circle, said: “By combining cutting-edge technology with our own proprietary credit models and sophisticated data analytics, we deliver a better deal for small businesses and investors around the world.”