UK SME lender Iwoca secures £270m debt funding from Citibank and Barclays

Iwoca, a UK-based SME lender, has landed a substantial £270 million debt funding package from Citibank and Barclays to expand its operations in the UK and Germany.

UK-based SME lender Iwoca has secured a substantial debt funding package amounting to £270 million in order to expand its presence in both the domestic and international markets. This move comes in response to the increasing demand for financial support from small businesses. The funding package consists of a joint commitment of £150 million from Citibank and Insight Investment, which Iwoca plans to utilize for its growth in Germany. Additionally, the lender has secured a further £120 million arrangement with Barclays and US-based Värde Partners to fuel its operations in the UK. Notably, Barclays and Värde Partners had previously provided Iwoca with a £200 million debt facility in October last year.

Established in 2012, Iwoca offers an embedded lending solution that allows small businesses to access loans through third-party platforms and neobanks. The company boasts of providing £3 billion in loans to SMEs since its inception, with £200 million lent across 9,000 business loans in the last quarter alone. According to Iwoca, its recent quarterly SME Expert Index revealed that 76% of brokers are witnessing a decline in SME funding from traditional banks, while 86% anticipate a surge in demand for financial assistance.

Iwoca CEO Christoph Rieche stated that the lender has processed over 130,000 small business loans to date, leveraging its extensive data and risk modeling capabilities to cater to businesses that may not meet the criteria set by mainstream banks, particularly those without multiple years of trading history.

Iwoca's latest funding injection is poised to bolster its expansion efforts in key markets and enable it to meet the growing financial needs of small businesses amidst changing lending landscapes.