GLASGOW private equity firm Maven Capital Partners has led a £2 million financing round for London-based peer-to-peer (P2P) lender Lending Works.
The investment house, which was founded by former Aberdeen Asset Management investment head Bill Nixon nine years ago, was joined in the deal by English counterparts NVM Private Equity and Pollen Street Capital as well as a number of business angels.
Maven put up the bulk of the cash, with the other investors contributing £800,000 between them.
According to Maven investment director Melanie Goward, the firm decided to invest in Lending Works because it was impressed by its “ethical” approach to P2P lending.
“The firm has developed a reputation in the market of being a responsible and ethical P2P market leader, which is evidenced by it being the first major platform to have been fully authorised by the FCA [Financial Conduct Authority] and the first to have negotiated insurance cover which provides lenders with protection against borrower defaults,” she said.
“The experienced management team, assembled and led by Nick [Harding] and Matt [Powell], has a clear and executable strategy and we look forward to helping them deliver this in the coming years.”
Lending Works, which launched in 2014, plans to use the money raised to develop its sales and marketing function.
Its chief executive, Mr Harding, said the cash would allow the business to realise its “very ambitious plans to both dramatically improve the consumer credit market for customers and build a business that funds billions of pounds of loans per year.”
“This investment will enable us to continue on that journey,” he added.
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