Plend has raised £40m in a debt and equity funding round just seven months after getting FCA approval and opening early access for its loans.
The round includes backing from a host of investors including Monzo co-founders Gary Dolman and Paul Rippon, with the duo becoming keen fintech angel investors having also backed Fronted and OnLadder, and with Rippon now the largest angel on Plend’s cap table.
Leading the funding round is Active Partners, with Velocity Juice, Sivo, and existing investors DD Venture Capital, Ascension, Tomahawk VC and Haatch all involved.
“We've already processed about £43m worth of loan applications, we have 100 per cent performance on our entire book. So all of our loans performing,” Plend’s CEO and co-founder Rob Pasco told AltFi.
“And we have two really excited embedded partnerships live, including one with a green energy supplier Switchd, to help people with upgrading their homes with solar panels, heat pumps and insulation.”
Plend is currently Pending B Corp status, making it the first UK consumer lender to adopt the environmental, social and corporate governance standards required by the certification, which Pasco says plays a big role in their lending decisions.
“We're seeing a lot of demand, probably too much demand if anything. A lot of people need low cost financing, but it's also not responsible to lay on more financing or debt that's unmanageable. So having to kind of walk a very, very fine line.”
The fresh funding will give Plend “the kind of firepower to get to the next stage of the business and really start lending to more people, opening up our risk parameters and making a bigger impact.”
While Plend’s Pending B Corp status means it cannot lend to some people who apply, Pasco says the business offers out its ‘Plend Score’ decisioning technology for free to charity lenders who serve vulnerable borrowers.
Plend is chaired by Luke Lang, after the co-founder of Crowdcube stepped down as CMO of the crowdfunding giant last June.