Sourcing funding for your business doesn’t have to be another difficult challenge for small business leaders.
Micro loans are normally associated with third world and developing countries, with crowd-sourced funding, through organisations such as Kiva, made available for individuals who not normally would qualify for bank loans to set up their own business initiatives. But the idea is now being extended to 1st world markets with The Funding Circle offering government supported, non-bank, crowd-sourced loans from between £5k to £1m, available to small businesses.
Launched in 2010, The Funding Circle is run by an experienced board who understand that businesses need capital and investors need a fair return, and backed by a group of private investors, with an experienced management team in place
Investors decide which businesses they want to lend to and place a bid for how much they want to lend and at which interest rate. Once the auction is complete, the borrower decides which lenders they will work with, generally of course the lowest interest rates.
Loans can be made for working capital, expansion capital, asset finance and one off business expenses and, once agreed and the funding level reached, can be drawn down and invested to help your business grow.
To date over 63,000 individuals have signed up to lend over £200m to British businesses.
Is this an option that could work for you?
