British tennis hero Andy Murray has invested in FinTech start-ups Investly and Landbay.
The Scot has invested undisclosed amounts as part of his strategic partnership with crowdfunding platform Seedrs, which has seen him invest into 30 companies.
Mortgage marketplace lender Landbay, backed by Zoopla, matches retail and institutional investors’ money into buy-to-let mortgages using peer-to-peer technology. It recently passed the milestone of £100 million worth of mortgages funded.
Murray was already an investor in the company but took up an option to invest in its latest funding round.
Investly describes itself as a pan-European marketplace for invoice financing which helps businesses free up cash flow by paying them money due in invoices within hours rather than waiting months.
“I have long been interested in backing companies that offer tech solutions and both Investly and Landbay do that,” said three-times Grand Slam champion Murray.
“I can really see the value in Investly for small businesses – the early days of a business can be really tough so helping them with cash flow makes sense to me and will hopefully enable more small businesses to succeed.
“I am excited to be maintaining my shareholding in Landbay, as the company’s growth and achievements so far has been extremely impressive.”
Siim Maivel, founder and CEO of Investly, said: “The team is thrilled to have Andy Murray invest in our equity crowdfunding campaign.
“Andy has built up an impressive portfolio on Seedrs over the last few of years and we’re delighted he has backed Investly.”
John Goodall, co-founder and CEO of Landbay, added: “Seeing Andy Murray exercising his pre-emption rights to back Landbay for a third time is very exciting.
“We have recently surpassed £100m mortgages funded on the platform and have a number of new developments in the pipeline. It’s a pleasure to have Andy on board as a shareholder.”