Posted on 20.11.2013, by Rob Warlow
The crowdfunding and peer-to-peer (P2P) loan market has been very much focused on providing short to medium term loans for traditional business needs such as additional working capital and asset/equipment purchases.
However, in a sign that the P2P market is maturing, some players are starting to venture into property funding.
Funding Circle, the most recognised marketplace for business loans, has signalled its intent to move into the property finance space, with the hire of Luke Jooste, formerly Commercial Director at Barclays Business. With an extensive experience in the property sector Luke has been brought in by Funding Circle to develop a property-focused offering.
Depending on what exactly the product is it should be a good source of property funding and will be music to the ears of businesses operating in this industry who have been badly serviced by the traditional High Street banks. I suspect the service will initially focus on secured bridging loans which is an easy toe in the water.
The P2P bridging market though does have a new confirmed entrant. Existing bridging lender Wellesley has launched a peer-to-peer lending service with the aim of funding its short-term loans.
Private investors will be able to fund bridging and development property loans of up to £1m. The shareholders of Wellesley are committing £5m so they will invest along side private investors.
The property being funded will be taken as security and sold if borrowers default. In this instance, the private lenders will be paid off first, with Wellesley’s shareholders being repaid from the remainder.
You can find out more here, Wellesley
Further to your recent presentation at LEAD Wales just wanted to say it was very refreshing to see somebody talk passionately and positively about finance, very insightful!
Rob delivered a series of 3 workshops aimed at understanding how finance houses look at finance propositions with the aim for us as a team to deliver more of a bespoke offering to our customer base. The training was delivered to a mixture of staff who work with new businesses start-ups and existing established businesses across Mid & South West Wales. Rob delivered the training with an abundance of passion and has really helped my team look at financial propositions in a different light, many thanks again Rob and I look forward to work with you in the near future.
Rob kindly agreed to attend the recent Pontypridd RFC sponsors networking evening and delivered what can only be described as an excellent talk on 5 Tactics to Boost Your Business and Your Profits. He kept the audience engaged throughout and the feedback from everyone was excellent. Rob is very knowledgeable on business and finance and on top of that is a genuine nice guy. We hope to have him back at a future event and I have no hesitation in recommending Rob’s services.
Hi Rob, it was so interesting and entertaining listening to you at the Kevin Green Wealth Coach Workshop in Reading this weekend! I didnt realise you can find Finance proposals such fun!. Brilliant tips! Thanks.
I wanted to thank you for such an insightful, energetic, and entertaining talk at the Kevin Green Wealth event on securing funding and creating a successful plan. It was brilliantly executed and a pleasure to listen to and the ideas I’ve learned are definitely going to help me in going forward.