Funding Circle (LSE: FCH), an SME lender that facilitates loans in both the U.S. and parts of Europe, announced on Friday it has teamed up with Atom Bank to provide £300 million of new funding to small businesses. Through the collaboration, Atom will use Funding Circle’s machine learning capabilities to deploy the funds to 4,000 UK small businesses.
Funding Circle also revealed that with £350 million already lend through its platform, the commitment with Atom brings the total lending to £650 million.
“This lending partnership will support SMEs through Funding Circle’s Recovery Loan Scheme (RLS) product and existing loan product. Atom will lend through the platform alongside a wide range of investors, including banks, asset management companies, insurance companies, government-backed entities, individuals, and funds.”
Lisa Jacobs, Europe Managing Director of Funding Circle, spoke about the partnership by stating:
“We are excited that Atom bank has strengthened its commitment to supporting small businesses through our technology platform. Alongside a wide range of investors, it’s great to see Funding Circle’s machine learning and distribution capabilities being leveraged as a key solution towards increasing the flow of funding to the real economy, powering the economic recovery.”
Edward Twiddy, Chief Customer Officer at Atom bank, then added:
“By the turn of this year we will have provided over £1 billion of lending to UK SMEs alongside what is already £3bn of mortgage lending, making good on our promise to be the bank for those wanting to grow their own business and own their own home.”
Founded in 2010, Funding Circle claims to be the UK’s largest loan platform for SMEs. The company further revealed that a wide range of investors have directly lent more than £11.5 billion to approximately 100,000 businesses globally through its platform.