Peer-to-peer lender RateSetter has secured a £20 million investment from veteran banker Ken Costa, along with Woodford Investment Management and Artemis.
Costa also led a £25m investment in the online-only challenger bank, Atom Bank, late last year.
The £20 million investment will be used to invest in technology and marketing, attract the best talent and maintain a strong financial position, said the company, which also claims to be the first major UK P2P platform to announce a profit, although this is disputed by rival Zopa.
Commenting on the fund raising, RateSetter chairman, Alan Hughes, said: “We are delighted to have raised investment from such well-respected institutions, vindicating our focus on attracting large equity investors that share our long-term vision.”
P2P lending is a new asset class for retail, institutional and corporate lenders, according to the CEO and founder, Rhydian Lewis, who called it, ”a terrific development in modern finance”.
RateSetter lent £293m in 2014 and has already lent over £110m year-to-date in 2015, according to the latest figures from the UK Liberum AltFi alternative finance data index.
Ian Cruickshank, CMO at Ratesetter will be speaking on a panel looking at The Sharing Ecomony at Future Money next month.