LendInvest, the UK’s leading online platform for property finance and investing, has through the summer completed a Series C debt and equity funding round for approximately $39.5 million (£30.5 million) which was positioned by the company as pre-IPO funding.
Atomico have increased their investment in LendInvest in the debt and equity fundraising, along with new investors which include a fund associated with the technology investment bank, GP Bullhound; and Tiger Management, founded by legendary US hedge fund investor, Julian Robertson.
The funding follows a Series B funding round of $22 million (£17 million) in March 2016, which enabled the business to accelerate its investment in technology and enter the Buy-to-Let (BTL) market. Through all of its fundraising efforts, from its Online Investment Platform through to institutional funding, LendInvest has now raised well over £1 billion.
LendInvest uses technology to bring investors and borrowers together providing property finance that is fast, online and works for all. Today, LendInvest lends in the specialist mortgage market with products across bridging finance, development finance and Buy-To-Let. The business has lent over £1.5 billion ($1.94bn), financing over 5,000 properties across the UK.
A few months ago, LendInvest released its audited financial accounts for the year to March 2018, and recorded its fourth consecutive profit from operations and gross group revenues of £53m. LendInvest will use the capital raised to continue its investment in technology, and provides the business with significant flexibility as it moves towards the mainstream mortgage market.
Christian Faes, Co-Founder and CEO of LendInvest, commented: “Having recorded a fourth consecutive annual profit, raising capital wasn’t a necessity for LendInvest but by beefing up our balance sheet and bringing on some very experienced additional investors, we are well placed to capitalise on opportunities in the future.
“Using technology LendInvest is building a new kind of financial services business, and an extremely scalable platform, which is changing the way mortgages are funded and work in the UK. It’s great to have received further backing from Atomico – who have been great partners in our business – and to bring on our new investors in GP Bullhound and Tiger, to help us achieve our ambition.“
Mattias Ljungman, Partner at Atomico, added: “We continue to be impressed with LendInvest’s progress in disrupting the established lending industry. Since our initial involvement the business has invested heavily in its proprietary technology, successfully moved into Buy-To-Let and launched the FinTech sector’s first LSE listed retail bond programme. We are excited to work with LendInvest as it continues with its high-growth trajectory and look forward to seeing what the future holds for the business.”
Manish Madhvani, GP Bullhound, said: “We have followed the impressive growth of Lendinvest for a number of years and are delighted to back Christian and his team as they redefine and simplify the mortgage market .”