LendingCrowd

Last updated

LendingCrowd
Company type Ltd.
Founded United Kingdom (2014)
FounderStuart Lunn
Headquarters
Edinburgh
,
Scotland, UK
Area served
 UK
Products Business loans
Website https://www.lendingcrowd.com/

LendingCrowd is a British financial technology company that provides business loans to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The company is based in Edinburgh, Scotland and was originally founded as a peer-to-peer lending platform, enabling individual investors to earn interest by pooling their capital with other lenders and funding business loans.

Contents

LendingCrowd fully transitioned its business model in 2022 and loans to SMEs are now funded by institutional capital. In 2024, the business announced that it would close the peer-to-peer part of the business.

Product

Business loans

LendingCrowd offers unsecured business loans of between £75,000 and £350,000 to limited companies and limited liability partnerships based in Britain, with loan terms of up to 60 months. [1] SME borrowers can make overpayments to reduce the term of the loan. The platform does not charge borrowers a fee for early repayment of the loan.

History

Founded in January 2014 and launched in October 2014, LendingCrowd is the trading name of Edinburgh Alternative Finance Ltd. The business was founded by CEO Stuart Lunn. [2] [3] Since October 2014, the LendingCrowd platform has delivered more than £525 million in loans for over 3,500 SMEs across Britain. [4]

LendingCrowd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), although the business has applied to cancel its authorisation due to its exit from the peer-to-peer industry. In November 2016, the business became one of the first peer-to-peer lenders to move from interim permissions to being fully authorised. [5]

In February 2017, LendingCrowd became one of the first peer-to-peer business lending platforms to provide the Innovative Finance ISA. Only platforms that are fully authorised by the FCA are eligible to offer this product. [6]

In October 2018, LendingCrowd announced the appointment of former Standard Life CEO Sir Sandy Crombie as its chairman. [7]

Scottish Enterprise and NIBC Bank agreed in May 2019 to lend a combined £18.75 million via the LendingCrowd platform to SMEs. This was the second lending deal that LendingCrowd had agreed with Scottish Enterprise, the first being a £2.75 million commitment made in 2016. [8] The May 2019 institutional funding deal started the transformation of the business model.

During the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, the British Business Bank (BBB) accredited LendingCrowd to provide loans to SMEs via the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS). [9]

In 2022, LendingCrowd was accredited by the BBB to support businesses through the Recovery Loan Scheme (RLS). [10] Peer-to-peer investors were not permitted to participate in CBILS and RLS lending, so LendingCrowd pivoted its business to institutional funding. A £100 million funding line with Barclays Bank and a global investment firm was announced in February 2022. [11]

Awards

LendingCrowd has won several awards since it launched, including:

LendingCrowd has also been featured in the Deloitte UK Technology Fast 50 – a ranking of the 50 fastest-growing technology companies in the UK – in 2019, 2020, 2024 and 2025. [19] In 2025, LendingCrowd featured in the Fast 50 as the ninth fastest growing technology business in the UK [20] and the fastest growing in Scotland. [21]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "LendingCrowd Lender Review". Rangewell. Retrieved 21 November 2025.
  2. ↑ Johnson, Craig (10 September 2020). "Meet five of the most important players in Scottish fintech". The Scotsman. Retrieved 21 November 2025.
  3. ↑ Gallagher, Rosemary (21 May 2019). "LendingCrowd does 'transformational' £18m deal to back SMEs". insider.co.uk. Retrieved 17 November 2025.
  4. ↑ "About us; LendingCrowd". lendingcrowd.com. Retrieved 4 December 2025.
  5. ↑ Janardana, Jaidev (1 December 2017). "P2P platforms rush to launch innovative finance Isas". Financial Times. Retrieved 21 November 2025.
  6. ↑ Jones, Rupert (18 February 2017). "A new Isa is offering tax-free returns of 12% – so what's the catch?". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 November 2017.
  7. ↑ "Sir Sandy Crombie joins LendingCrowd as Chairman | LendingCrowd". lendingcrowd.com. October 2018. Retrieved 1 October 2018.
  8. ↑ "LendingCrowd creates transformational deal to partner with Scottish Investment Bank and NIBC to fund SME growth" . Retrieved 17 November 2025.
  9. ↑ Paris, Mickael (1 July 2020). "LendingCrowd approved for accreditation under CBILS". FinTech Scotland. Retrieved 21 November 2025.
  10. ↑ Reid, Scott (10 February 2022). "Edinburgh fintech LendingCrowd pledges £100 million to recovering SMEs". The Scotsman. Retrieved 21 November 2025.
  11. ↑ Paris, Mickael (10 February 2022). "£100m raised by LendingCrowd to support SMEs". FinTech Scotland. Retrieved 21 November 2025.
  12. ↑ Wright, Scott (23 October 2015). "Scots firms kick up a Storm at 2015 Herald Digital Business Awards". The Herald. Retrieved 21 November 2025.
  13. ↑ Kelly, Ross (26 September 2019). "DIGIT Announces Winners of Scottish Financial Technology Awards". DIGIT. Retrieved 21 November 2025.
  14. ↑ Adler, Tim (31 October 2019). "LendingCrowd and Thrive win big at British Business Awards 2019". Small Business. Retrieved 21 November 2025.
  15. ↑ Paris, Mickael (16 September 2019). "LendingCrowd crowned Best P2P Business Lender". FinTech Scotland. Retrieved 21 November 2025.
  16. ↑ "LendingCrowd crowned Scotland's High Growth Business of the Year". lendingcrowd.com. Retrieved 21 November 2025.
  17. ↑ Thomas, Olivia (3 March 2020). "Leading city businesses win at the Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce Business Awards". The Edinburgh Reporter. Retrieved 21 November 2025.
  18. ↑ "Scotland's Burgeoning Tech Sector Highlighted As Winners Of 10th Annual Digital Technology Awards 2020 Announced". ScotlandIS. Retrieved 21 November 2025.
  19. ↑ "Journee tops Deloitte UK Technology Fast 50 ranking". Deloitte. Retrieved 21 November 2025.
  20. ↑ "2025 winners". Deloitte. Retrieved 21 November 2025.
  21. ↑ "2025 Regional winners". Deloitte. Retrieved 21 November 2025.
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