Funding Circle eyes autumn flotation, report claims

It is believed advisers will be chosen to lead the process towards the end of the first quarter next year, with a flotation potentially taking place by late autumn. It was reported that a syndicate of investment banks is expected to be hired by the spring.

Citing unnamed sources, Sky also claimed Funding Circle is likely to exceed the $1bn ‎valuation it reached when the company raised £82m of new funding in January 2017.

Led by Accel, which funds large technology companies, the funding round drew participation from existing Funding Circle investors including Baillie Gifford, DST Global, Index Ventures, Ribbit Capital, Rocket Internet, Sands Capital Ventures, Temasek and Union Square Ventures.

Funding Circle told Credit Strategy it was issuing no response to the Sky report.

One of peer-to-peer lending’s success stories, Funding Circle announced last month that investors have lent more than $5bn globally to small businesses through its platform. This has supported a network of 40,000 businesses across the UK, USA, Germany and the Netherlands.

Commenting in December on the lending milestone, Samir Desai, chief executive and co-founder of the business, said the milestone “makes Funding Circle the world’s largest small business lending platform by loans outstanding and new monthly originations.”