Funding Circle Comes Around with $150M

Funding Circle has gotten a capital infusion of its own, raising $150 million.

The peer-to-peer online marketplace for business loans announced this week that it garnered the funds in a round led by DST Global. Also participating in the investment was Baillie Gifford, a fund managed by BlackRock, Sands Capital Ventures and Temasek.

The London-based Funding Circle, which launched in 2010, connects small businesses with investors in both the U.S. and the U.K. In the press release announcing the latest investment, the company states that it is at present the fifth largest net lender to small businesses in the U.K., and, in the U.S., saw lending on its platform increase sevenfold between the first quarter of this year and the first quarter of 2014.

“We believe Funding Circle is the future of small business finance globally, and it’s a vision we share with some of the largest and most respected investors in the world,” Samir Desai, CEO and co-founder of Funding Circle, remarked in the release. “Today’s news is the next step on our journey to creating a sustainable, category-defining business in a multi-billion dollar global market, where businesses will come to the marketplace to borrow from all types of investors. This investment, alongside prudent risk management, will ensure Funding Circle’s long term future.”

Also commenting in the release was Sam Hodges, Funding Circle’s U.S. Managing Director and co-founder, who said: “Today’s capital injection will allow us to accelerate efforts in the United States and help us better serve the 28 million Main Street small businesses many banks have left behind. This year, we’ll continue to invest heavily in technology and talent as we build a transparent, sustainable and diverse marketplace that helps American small businesses get access to the $40 billion per month they need to expand and grow.”

This latest round brings Funding Circle’s total raised to $273 million. The company additionally noted in the release that it has appointed Chitra Nayak — former COO of Platform at Salesforce — as its U.S. Chief Operating Officer and David Yu — former CEO and CTO of Betfair — as its Global Chief Product Officer.