Bank challenger and small business finance provider Orange Money Ltd (trading as Ezbob) has today announced that it has purchased Everline.
The acquisition will bring together the strongest elements of both organisations – the Ezbob brand and leading technology platform, and Everline's brand and UK market insight – enabling Orange Money Ltd to further capitalise on the rapidly growing alternative finance sector.
Orange Money Ltd and Everline have collectively provided over 5,000 business loans and lent more than £54 million to small businesses since their inception in 2012. The deal creates the biggest business e-lender in the UK.
Orange Money Ltd is the first online SME lender to be an approved financial intermediary for the European Investment Fund (EIF), and it is backed by the UK Government through the Angel Co-Fund.
Tomer Guriel, CEO, Orange Money Ltd said: "Collectively we are now the biggest business e-lender in the UK and remain focused on providing more businesses with the finance they need to fuel and sustain growth. This is an exciting acquisition for us, as it brings together two strong brands in Ezbob and Everline, both of which have disrupted traditional business lending. Our market leading technology platform complements Everline's well-positioned brand – the combination of the two will accelerate our growth, which has already been more than doubling year on year for each brand since launch."
Orange Money Ltd has also announced today the hiring of Russell Gould, former Everline Managing Director, as its Chief Operating Officer. Gould launched and ran Everline from inception and joins the business at a pivotal point. The EIF, last year, named Orange Money Ltd as the first European e-lender to be an approved financial intermediary.
Guriel continued: "We are delighted to announce that Russell is joining the management team and we look forward to working with him to take the strong foundations from both businesses and create an even stronger business for the future."
Orange Money Ltd will market to UK small businesses under both the Everline and the Ezbob brands and plans on undertaking a brand review in the coming months.
Customers will now have access to loans of up to £150,000 for 18 months and will also benefit from a 28-40% saving in loan costs – based on risk based pricing. Previously Everline had offered loans up to £50,000 for 12 months at rates of 26% per annum.