The 12 Most Important European P2P Platforms
Assetz Capital (retail.assetzcapital.co.uk)
Founded: 2012
Head office: Stockport, UK
CEO: Stuart Law
Total loans funded: £50 million
Type of loans: Small business and property
Assetz Capital connects small businesses and property developers with cash-rich investors. Their model offers carefully selected loans backed by tangible assets to thousands of investors. Interest rates are determined by Assetz Capital’s team of lending experts, not by auctioning the loan off to the lowest bidder. This platform’s experienced leadership team, fixed pricing approach and fast-paced growth make it one to watch.
Auxmoney (www.auxmoney.com)
Founded: 2007
Head office: Düsseldorf, Germany
CEO: Raffael Johnen
Total loans funded: €125 million
Type of loans: Consumer
Auxmoney is the number one peer-to-peer lending marketplace in Germany. It distinguishes itself from other peer-to-peer platforms in the way it assesses the risk of potential borrowers. Auxmoney has developed a proprietary algorithm that looks beyond the inputs typically used by traditional banks to determine creditworthiness. This sophisticated vetting process rejects 80% of potential borrowers meaning that all loans posted on the platform are quality borrowers. Auxmoney has recently begun attracting institutional investors and is looking to expand beyond Germany to other European markets.
Bondora (www.bondora.com)
Founded: 2009
Head office: Tallinn, Estonia
CEO: Partel Tomberg
Total loans funded: €27.5 million
Type of loans: Consumer
Bondora is based in Estonia but their story goes way beyond that country. The company funds loans in Estonia, Spain, Slovakia as well as Finland and sources investors from all across Europe (the majority of which come from Germany, the UK, and Switzerland). Bondora has made well over 10,000 loans and has been growing very rapidly in 2014. Bondora was first pan-European lending platform. Having a single management team oversee operations in 4 different loan markets and over 30 investor markets allows investors to seamlessly diversify their peer-to-peer investments across geographic borders.
Funding Circle (www.fundingcircle.com)
Founded: 2010
Head office: London, UK
CEO: Samir Desai
Total loans funded: £419 million
Type of loans: Small business and property
Funding Circle is recognized as the largest and most successful peer-to-business platform. It is the world’s leading marketplace for business loans, where individuals can lend directly to creditworthy small businesses and earn appealing returns. Investors select loans approved by Funding Circle using an auction process, bidding on how much they wish to lend and specifying the interest rate. In 2013 Funding Circle expanded to the U.S. and it has quickly established a leadership position there in online small business lending.
Lendico (www.lendico.com)
Founded: 2013
Head office: Berlin, Germany
CEO: Dr. Dominik Steinkühler
Total loans funded: Not available
Type of loans: Consumer
Lendico is unique in that it was launched with the intention of quickly becoming a multinational platform. It was founded in December 2013 by the incubator and venture capitalist, Rocket Internet, and is already operating in six countries: Germany, Austria, Poland, the Netherlands, Spain, and South Africa in its first year of operation. While Lendico’s loan volumes are still very small they are a platform to watch given their international expansion plans and deep pocketed backers.
LendInvest (www.lendinvest.com)
Founded: 2013
Head office: London, UK
CEO: Christian Faes
Total loans funded: £166 million
Type of loans: Property
LendInvest is the world’s largest peer-to-peer marketplace for real estate mortgages. The company is using technology to revolutionize the way consumers secure mortgages and remove banks and bureaucracy from the process. Their platform makes investing in a mortgage accessible to the everyday investor and offers borrowers a simpler, more efficient way to fund their mortgage. LendInvest has quickly emerged as a leader in the UK’s p2p lending industry. They gained a lot of press early in 2014 when they originated, up until then, the largest p2p loan ever: £4.1 million. This loan has since been repaid in full.
MarketInvoice (www.marketinvoice.com)
Founded: 2011
Head office: London, UK
CEO: Anil Stocker
Total loans funded: £284 million
Type of loans: Invoice financing
MarketInvoice is Europe’s first and biggest p2p lender for businesses with outstanding invoices. Their model gives businesses immediate access to working capital by selling their invoices online to a global network of investors, institutions, and the UK government. As the first and largest p2p invoice financing platform MarketInvoice has become a leader in the UK p2p lending industry.
Prêt d’union (www.pret-dunion.fr)
Founded: 2009
Head office: Issy-les-Moulineaux, France
CEO: Charles Egly
Total loans funded: €116 million
Type of loans: Consumer
Prêt d’union is the first and only peer-to-peer platform in France to be accredited by the French Central Bank. The platform enables individuals and institutional investors to directly fund consumer loans through a secured bond marketplace without the need for mainstream financial institutions. This year Prêt d’union plans to issue over €90 million in new loans.
Ratesetter (www.ratesetter.com)
Founded: 2010
Head office: London, UK
CEO: Rhydian Lewis
Total loans funded: £394 million
Type of loans: Consumer
RateSetter is the largest peer-to-peer platform in the UK by new loans originated. It operates as a lending exchange, differentiating itself from other p2p platforms by letting the investors, the borrowers, and the free market determine their own interest rates. RateSetter was the first p2p lender to introduce a Provision Fund – this fund backs potential losses from loan defaults and not a single investor has lost a penny to date. Based on monthly loan volume RateSetter become the largest UK platform earlier this year.
Trustbuddy (www.trustbuddy.com/en/)
Founded: 2009
Head office: Stockholm, Sweden
CEO: Jens Glasø
Total loans funded: Not available
Type of loans: Consumer
TrustBuddy is the world’s largest short-term p2p lending company. It is a fully automated lending platform that operates across 11 different European markets. Trustbuddy’s revenue model is based on administrative fees for borrowers while lenders earn 12% interest on their investment. TrustBuddy is publicly traded on NASDAQ OMX First North (TBDY). TrustBuddy is poised to take on the UK p2p market by the end of 2014 after recently acquiring a UK based financial services company.
Wellesley & Co. (www.wellesley.co.uk)
Founded: 2013
Head office: London, UK
CEO: Graham Wellesley & Anthony Fane
Total loans funded: £109 million
Type of loans: Small business and property
Wellesley & Co. is a secured property p2p lender that uses its own money to help fund every loan. All loans are secured by assets and protected by a provision fund. To further reduce risk, Wellesley & Co. uses a process called Auto-Matching. This process assures diversification by spreading lenders’ funds proportionately across all loans on the platform and readjusting the proportion on a weekly basis. In October 2014 they passed the £100 million milestone in total funds lent, the fastest UK p2p lending platform to that milestone.
Zopa (www.zopa.com)
Founded: 2005
Head office: London, UK
CEO: Giles Andrews
Total loans funded: £665 million
Type of loans: Consumer
Zopa is the world’s first peer-to-peer lending company having launched in 2005. Zopa matches lenders and borrowers on a many-to-one basis to diversify risk and minimize the impact of a default on any single lender. Lenders pay 1% of the amount lent and borrowers pay a low, transparent fee to use the platform. In 2013, Zopa introduced Safeguard, a central fund designed to recover losses for lenders. So far Zopa has a 100% track record using Safeguard.
The largest gathering ever for the European p2p lending industry is happening soon in London. LendIt Europe on November 17 will feature speakers from all these platforms and more. We realize we have left some companies off this list that may deserve to be on there and conversely there are some companies on this list that others would have left off. This list is a subjective one. Feel free to chime in and let us know what you think.
- November 12, 2014