Funding Circle, considered as Britain's biggest peer-to-peer lender has held an ambition to become a public company. In 2018, the company will take the step to turn this ambition into reality.
According to a source which confirmed a report by Sky News, Funding Circle, founded by Samir Desai, Andrew Mullinger and James Meekings in 2010, has informed investment bankers about its plans to hold a beauty parade within the first three months of 2018., in order to select advisers for a first public offering.
Funding Circle, which is an online lending platform, offers loans to small businesses, using money from retail investors and institutions. It is said that so far, the company has arranged loans worth over £3 billion.
The company raised £83 million a year ago and it was thought that their value, at that stage, was an estimated $1 billion. Sky News also reported that some investors believed that Funding Circle could be worth about £2 billion.
In 2016, the company reported a 59% rise in revenues to £50.9 million, and arranged over £1 billion of credit for 10,000 small enterprises.
