London-based Lendable, an AI-powered consumer finance platform, has raised £210 million in funding. With this investment the valuation of the company surpasses £3.5 billion.
The financing round was led by the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board (Ontario Teachers’), through its Teachers’ Innovation Platform (TIP). TIP focuses on late-stage venture and growth equity investments in cutting-edge technology companies led by mission-driven entrepreneurs.
Lendable will use the new investment from TIP to support the development of new products and drive the company’s ambitions for international growth.
Martin Kissinger, founder and CEO of Lendable, 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.”
Olivia Steedman, Senior Managing Director, TIP: said: “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.”
Efficient, transparent consumer finance
Lendable was founded in 2014 by Martin Kissinger with the vision to use technology. Besides Lendable, Kissinger was involved in launching a consumer finance platform for Rocket Internet in Berlin. The company’s mission is to make consumer finance more transparent, fair and efficient. Its proprietary technology platform connects global institutional investors with borrowers across all major products (loans, credit cards, car finance).
Lendable applies AI and automation to enhance underwriting, and offer customers better rates, transparency and service. Also, it offers institutional investors ranging from global banks to family offices access to the asset class.
How does Lendable work?
There’s no need to fill in lengthy forms, deal with paper-based applications, wait days for a decision by the lender, queue in a branch, or get stuck in hold loops on overburdened customer service hotlines. Lendable fixes all of that.
As it is a lending platform, when you borrow money, it comes straight from an investor. Unlike banks, who hand out loans from piles of cash they look after on behalf of depositors, Lendable has a super-fast platform that will make lending as easy as possible.
You wiill get your quote in a matter of a few clicks, which is different from traditional banks,who require paperwork and run expensive branch networks. You can manage your loan online, and our customer service is available 7 days a week by email/phone/text or live chat.
When you take out a loan with Lendable, a non-refundable loan fee is added to the loan amount. You do not pay this fee upfront, it is paid via the monthly instalments which are set out in the Terms of the Loan Agreement. The loan fee and interest due on this fee is taken into account in calculating the Annual Percentage Rate (APR). Your quote will detail exactly how much the loan fee is.
Disrupts consumer finance
Demand for lending is high all over the world and consumer credit volumes in the UK and US alone are significant with an addressable market of close to $3 trillion. Recently, Indian customer finance platform Money View raised funding.
Also, the Covid-19 outbreak has accelerated the uptake of these products and open banking in the US has helped fintechs by enabling third parties to use customers’ financial data to develop new services in order to boost competition.
