Firenze, a Manchester-based fintech unlocking Lombard lending for mass affluent investors, has closed a £2.5M Seed funding round led by Outward VC, the backers of Curve, PrimaryBid and Vauban.
The funding round also includes leading fintech investors Portfolio Ventures and Form Ventures, and participation from existing investors and new co-investors including Lord Fink, founder of Man Group.
Chaired by former TSB CEO Paul Pester, the startup is aiming to open up Lombard lending to mass affluent investors with less than £1m in assets, aiming to offer over £1 billion in lending over next 3 years.
Firenze enables mass affluent investors and those that don’t want to work with a private bank to borrow against the value of their investment portfolios without selling assets, disrupting investment plans and triggering capital gains.
The Firenze platform offers loans from as little as £65,000, secured against clients’ investment portfolios.
The company's proprietary tech stack integrates into IFAs' processes, automating underwriting and monitoring to deliver instant loan approvals and same-day funding - while clients retain full custody of their assets.
The company says it has already signed deals with wealth managers with c. £75 billion assets under management and in February secured a £160 million funding line with Monument Bank.
David Newman , CEO of Firenze, comments: "Market demand has far exceeded our expectations and this funding enables us to accelerate Firenze’s rollout to more wealth managers, support their advisors and drive awareness on the benefits of Lombard lending."