LendInvest, the UK’s leading online marketplace platform for property finance, has become a fellow of the Luxembourg House of Financial Technology (LHoFT), the country’s leading FinTech innovation hub.
LendInvest has had a presence in Luxembourg since 2014 when it established its first Luxembourg-domiciled fund. Last year, LendInvest raised almost £100 million (€115 million) of new capital for the fund which now manages over £150 million (€170 million) of assets. The fund’s international investor base includes banks, pension and infrastructure funds, family offices and private clients from the UK, mainland Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
Luxembourg is Europe’s largest investment funds centre and counts 140 international banks among the financial services businesses that operate there. LendInvest will hire additional staff in Luxembourg over the months to come as the company’s fund investment activity continues to expand.
LHoFT was set up in 2016 to promote and facilitate more FinTech innovation among domestic and international financial services businesses in Luxembourg. More than fifty European FinTech businesses are fellows of LHoFT and the group is chaired by Luxembourg’s Minister of Finance.
As LHoFT’s newest member, LendInvest will work actively with the rapidly growing FinTech sector in Luxembourg. The company also intends to work with LHoFT to tap into Luxembourg’s deep pool of investment specialists with domain knowledge in financial services and technology.
Christian Faes, Co-Founder & CEO of LendInvest, commented: “As our presence in Luxembourg grows, we look forward to becoming a more active and engaged advocate for Luxembourg’s FinTech ecosystem, just as we have been in London for a number of years. We’ve been impressed with LHoFT's work to forge a vibrant FinTech movement in Luxembourg, which seems to have buy-in from the biggest financial services businesses in the county as well as backing from the government.
“Thinking ahead to a post-Brexit world, the make-up of which still isn’t clear, it’s important to us to ensure we’re well established in Europe’s number one investment hub. Luxembourg is the obvious mainland European base for us. A solid presence there helps us prepare for whatever the Brexit future might look like.”
LendInvest’s Luxembourg fund makes up one of the company’s four key investment channels. Alongside the fund, LendInvest manages an online investment platform, a listed retail bond programme on the London Stock Exchange, and a number of long-term credit lines from institutional funding partners.