Funding Circle has revealed increased losses before tax of more than £50 million but revenues climbed 55 per cent to £142m.
The listed peer-to-peer lending platform, which lost £36.3m in 2017, said the growth exceeded the guidance of 50 per cent set out when it floated last September.
The London-headquartered company’s total operating costs increased during the year by 47 per cent to £193.5m as it develops its products, with the goal of having 50 per cent of all its loan applications fully automated by 2020.
It stated that in 2019 it expects to report revenues above £200m.
“2018 was another record-breaking year for Funding Circle,” said CEO and co-foundermir Desai CBE.
“The business delivered against the guidance set out at the time of our IPO and it is especially pleasing to report revenue growth of 55 per cent with revenue of £141.9m and a positive segment adjusted EBITDA of £7m.
“As we look ahead to the rest of 2019, we remain focused on continuing our strategy of investing for growth and building on our number one market positions across the UK, US, Germany and the Netherlands.
“We have exciting plans to enter the Canadian market later this year and to launch two new institutional investor products in 2019 that will significantly increase the universe of investors who can access Funding Circle loans.”
Launched in 2010, Funding Circle – which featured on our list of 101 FinTech Disrupters last year – connects SMEs directly with investors and operates in the UK, US, Germany and the Netherlands.
It now has £3.15 billion of loans under management. In the UK, net lending (£723m) to SMEs through Funding Circle in 2018 was higher than all UK high street banks combined (£515m).
More than 60,000 small businesses have accessed funding through the Funding Circle platform.
In November the British Business Bank announced a commitment of up to £150 million for lending to UK small businesses through Funding Circle while the following month Waterfall Asset Management agreed to invest in £1 billion of loans originated through Funding Circle’s UK platform over a two-year period.