Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Leads £210M Round in UK-Based Consumer Finance Platform Lendable
Nicholas Otieno Mar 12, 2022 02:40
Lendable.co.uk is committed to improve financing to both retail customers and businesses.
Lendable.co.uk, a major AI-powered consumer finance platform based in London, announced on Thursday it raised £210 million in a funding round led by the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board through its Teachers’ Innovation Platform (TIP).
That is not the first time Canada’s pension organization invested in startups. In October last year, the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and its Teachers’ Innovation Platform led a funding round in which the FTX crypto exchange obtained $420 million from various investors.
Teacher’s Innovation Platform (TIP) is a new investment department within Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (a pension fund company) and focuses on late-stage venture and growth equity in cutting-edge technology firms.
In the press release issued by Lendable, the company said that it plans to use the fresh funding to develop new products and to enable its expansion in new markets.
Martin Kissinger, founder and CEO of Lendable.co.uk, talked about the financing and said: “We are excited to partner with TIP as we accelerate our expansion across products and markets. Our DNA from day one has been to bring transparency and fairness to consumer finance, and we are proud of the fantastic feedback we consistently receive from our customers. TIP is a global growth investor with a long-term view who can support our ambition to make this giant market work better.”
Meanwhile, Olivia Steedman, Senior Managing Director at TIP, also commented about the development and stated: “Lendable’s seamless, quick and easy to use products, powered by advanced AI, are shaping the future of consumer finance. We’re delighted to work with Martin and his visionary team to deliver on Lendable’s growth ambitions.”
Providing Loans to Businesses
Founded in 2014 by Martin Kissinger and Victoria van Lennep, Lendable.co.uk is on a mission to use technology to make consumer finance work better for thousands of millions of customers. It applies automation and AI to enhance underwriting and offer customers better rates, transparency and service. The platform provides debt asset classes to fintech companies such as banks family offices, among others across the world, to offer credit facilities and financial services to their customers.
Lendable has proven popular with customers because it comes straight from an investor when clients borrow money from the lending platform. Unlike banks that hand out loans from a large amount of money, they look after on behalf of savers. Its platform is super-fast and makes lending as hassle-free as possible. The platform uses institutional capital to fund its services, according to the company. Within a matter of a few clicks, a customer gets her quote. Unlike banks that require paperwork and run expensive branch networks.
Last March, Lendable achieved unicorn status after it obtained backing from Goldman Sachs, a multinational investment bank. With plans to expand its business into the US marketplace, the lending platform is reported to be launching a new credit card product.
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