Funding Circle, a U.K. based start-up, has raised $1.1 million worth of Series A circle to complete building its social lending platform for small business loans and plans on launching during Q2 of 2010.
The service that Lending Circle plans on offering will allow individuals to lend small amounts of money to a wide range of creditworthy businesses. Businesses will benefit from taking out loans through Funding Circle because the interest rates will likely be lower than what the company can get from a bank. Funding Circle says that lenders will also be able to loan specifically to businesses in their community or businesses that meet certain criteria, such as being environmentally friendly.
When Funding Circle launches its service, small businesses will be able to apply for loans between 5,000 and 50,000 GBP. Businesses will be checked for any sign of fraud and will have to meet a number of credit requirements to qualify for a loan. The company has a team of underwriters hat will analyze the risk of each loan and screen businesses before allowing them onto Funding Circle’s platform.
“Small businesses are essential to the economy, employing 59% of the private sector workforce and accounting for 50% of UK turnover. Funding Circle is a new way for individual people to connect with and support businesses in the UK, at the grassroots, whilst also generating an attractive return,” said Funding Circle Non-Executive Director Andrew Learoyd.
The A-round of funding that was recently announced was taken from a group of private investors, including current and former heads of private equity firms, insurers, banks, IT companies and leading professional services firms.
