Online property finance firm LendInvest has received a £17m venture capital boost, which it intends to spend on pushing towards the mainstream buy-to-let market.
Technology venture capital firm Atomico completed the Series B equity investment today (14 March), taking LendInvest’s total institutional funding to more than £200m having secured a £22m Series A investment from Chinese technology firm Beijing Kunlun last June.
LendInvest will use this funding to accelerate its investment in technology and extend its services in the property finance market.
The company is recruiting its first senior vice president of engineering and will expand its technology and product teams.
Christian Faes, co-founder and chief executive of LendInvest, said his firm has only scratched the surface of how technology will make mortgages a faster and more transparent consumer experience for borrowers and investors.
A spokeswoman added that “taking our place in the mainstream buy-to-let market has always been part of our long-term business plan” and with Atomico’s backing “we’re closer than ever to that becoming a reality”.
This move into the buy-to-let market is expected to happen “over time”, with the terms of products extending in length.
The firm already offers three-year buy-to-let loans to existing bridging customers looking for a ‘bridge-to-let’ financing option.
Mattias Ljungman, a partner at Atomico who will join LendInvest’s board, said: “Their lending and borrowing marketplace is bringing speed, efficiency and transparency to a traditionally cumbersome process.”
LendInvestwas launched in 2013 by Mr Faes and Ian Thomas, lending £560m so far to finance 2,100 properties in the UK.
peter.walker@ft.com
