Source: JustUs
JustUs, www.justus.co a financial community, built on transparency, fairness and inclusivity, has launched, looking to raise £5.35m, including £1m on crowdfunding platform Crowdcube.
The brainchild of financial services entrepreneur Lee Birkett, who is backed by veteran ad agency boss Sir John Hegarty and start-up specialist Thomas Teichman. JustUs intends to positively alter the lending landscape.
JustUs plans to become the provider of the broadest range of Peer-to-Peer consumer loans and secured lending, offering best in class rates, simplicity and inclusivity to an extensive range of borrowers.
The crowd and institutional fundraising, will value the business at £26m. The bulk of the proceeds will be used for high-profile advertising campaign to drive public awareness and membership of the community.
Joining the business is Thomas Adalbert, who has left a role as a Global Principal in fintech at Google to invest in and join JustUs as Chief Marketing Officer.
Sir John Hegarty, a founding partner of Saatchi & Saatchi, has also invested in the business and leads the brand team for JustUs, which will devise a multi-million pound advertising campaign for the platform in the coming months.
JustUs is reinforced through its P2P platform being designed specifically with the UK P2P legislation at the core of its offering.
JustUs’ robust underwriting process ensures that an appropriate risk rating is applied to the potential borrower and where necessary further security is sought from the borrower or an appropriate personal guarantor.
Borrowers must be in a position to make the payments on the loan and provide supporting evidence. They must be in full-time employment, self-employment or be in receipt of a private pension.
JustUs is the evolution of Birkett’s established and FCA-regulated peer-to-peer lending platform eMoneyUnion.com. Around £2m has already been invested in the platform since inception.
Birkett, who has 26 years’ experience in the financial services sector, and is a passionate advocate for alternative finance, says: “JustUs is for everyone, it’s an exciting evolution for the sector, which I believe can only become more relevant as consumers see that despite the worst financial crisis in a generation, banks and bankers’ behaviour hasn’t really changed.
“I believe we are completely disrupting the status quo with a range of accessible products for borrowers from a comprehensive range of backgrounds and credit history.