Peer-to-peer lender appoints new chief

A PEER-TO-PEER property lender in Birmingham has appointed a new chief executive.

Michael Bristow has taken the helm at CrowdProperty after acting as a non-executive director of the company.

He succeeds Simon Zutshi who has moved into the chairman’s seat.

The company was set up to provide an alternative to traditional bank borrowing for residential property developers and has funded more than 40 schemes around the country since the company was formed.

Mr Bristow was previously managing partner at Growth Strategy, a property technology investor and private equity advisory business.

He is also a mentor and investor at Pi Labs Property Innovation, a venture capital service which invests in property technology.

CrowdProperty has also acquired additional office space at 123 Hagley Road in Edgbaston and increased its workforce from six staff to 22 over the past four months.

Mr Bristow said: “When we launched the platform in 2013, it took us around ten weeks to raise sufficient funds for our first project.

“Of our last eight projects, five were funded in less than three minutes from going live on our website.

“Peer-to-peer lending is emerging as a very attractive alternative to traditional lending sources and investment products.

“We have big ambitions in the development finance market and are on track to quadruple lending this year.”