Small finance provider in £50m funds injection

One of Europe’s fastest growing alternative small business lenders has raised an additional £50 million to help provide financing to micro and small business customers.

Iwoca said that the increase in its debt facility had been led by NIBC Bank. Existing lenders in this syndicate, Shawbrook Bank and Pollen Street Capital, through one of its credit funds, also participated.

The increase comes at a time when the overall value of debt products provided by banks for small businesses is contracting.

According to UK Finance, the value of loan facilities approved each quarter by high street banks for businesses with less than £2 million in annual turnover fell by 52.3 per cent between the first quarter of 2012 and the closing months of 2017.

Karan Burman, associate director at Shawbrook Bank, said: “At Shawbrook we recognised the value of the Iwoca proposition in the alternative finance space.”