FUNDING THE MARKETPLACE ECONOMY

UK Bond Network to raise finance for instant working capital funder

UK Bond Network, the UK’s first peer to peer bond auction platform, has launched its latest bond issue to raise £1 million for fintech SME lender, iwoca. The issued bonds will enable investors to generate income while additionally benefitting from iwoca’s market leading credit-screening technology, since the issue will be secured against the company’s underlying loan book. The first bond will pay a 9% quarterly coupon over a 12 month term, with all principal being repaid at maturity.

Chris Maule

Chris Maule, the CEO of UK Bond Network, discusses the platform’s decision to support iwoca:

“As an alternative funder ourselves, we’re well aware of the potential offered by the wider alternative finance market; iwoca’s approach brings an incredibly exciting proposition to this, and one we’re happy to offer to our investors.”

“Our due diligence process means that we examine the senior management team of any business we support, and the financial experience visible at iwoca is a significant source of confidence for us. Many leading investors have already backed iwoca, both by directly investing in the equity of the company, as well as funding the growth of their loan book via previous debt issues – we’re very happy to be adding our, and our investors’ names to this list.”

Michael Elalouf, CFO, iwocaadds:

“We aim to offer a flexible financing solution to Europe’s twenty million small businesses. Given we lend directly from our balance sheet, our appetite for debt financing scales as we grow. UK Bond Network’s tech-enabled approach helps us diversify our financing options. This will be crucial to increase access to credit and support growth amongst European SMEs.”