TruFin, a British fintech and banking business with fingers in various niche lending pies, has raised £70 million through a listing on the LSE's AIM market.
TruFin was created through a series of acquisitions made over the last three years by a hedge fund called Arrowgrass, which was set up by former Deutsche Bank staffers.
One of those staffers, Henry Kenner, is now running TruFin, which owns three businesses: supply chain outfit Distribution Finance Capital (DFC); a specialist in providing early payments to the UK public sector called Oxygen Fiance; and working capital finance unit Satago.
In addition, thanks to a 2014 investment, TruFin owns a 15% stake in Europe's largest P2P lending platform, Zopa.
Kenner, who has a 30-year history in financial services, including at Swiss Re Capital Management and ABN Amro as well as his stint as a managing director at Deutsche Bank, now leads a 100-strong team at TruFin.
The firm claims that its units and investments are poised for significant growth, with both DFC and Zopa pursuing UK banking licenses, and Oxygen expanding within the corporate sector.
The company will start trading on AIM next week having conditionally raised £70 million through a placing and subscription to institutional and professional investors.
Says Kenner: "Listing on AIM will allow us to provide further capital to our subsidiaries and scale faster, and take advantage of any developments in the current financial services market.
"The highly experienced management team at TruFin and our group companies, are passionate about the opportunities to grow our niche lending businesses. Many borrowers are neglected by banks and still face expensive funding and capital.
"We intend to deliver value by taking advantage of current market disruptions and new financial technologies, while keeping a focus on the distribution of niche lending products."