Folk2Folk exceeds £400m in lending

Folk2Folk has surpassed £400m in lending.

The peer-to-peer rural business lending platform lent in excess of £59m during 2020, by funding  hundreds of small businesses across a variety of sectors, including agriculture, alternative energy, leisure and tourism, hospitality and property development.

At the end of October, Folk2Folk completed its largest loan of 2020 after investors backed £7.5m of finance through the platform.

The lender facilitated more than £17.3m in loans to small- and medium-sized enterprises during March, April and May while the country was under its first lockdown.

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“Reaching the £400m milestone highlights the important role Folk2Folk plays in providing a lifeline to many business owners as well as providing an additional source of monthly income for our investors,” said Roy Warren (pictured), managing director of Folk2Folk.

“Helping small businesses have access to much needed capital for growth, diversification or to adapt to the new Covid-19 environment is essential right now.”

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Earlier this month, Folk2Folk overhauled its broker team amid increased demand from the origination source.

The platform promoted staff internally and expanded its focus from the south west to across England, Scotland and Wales to meet demand from brokers for finance. It also increased the minimum loan size for broker-originated deals to £100,000.

In November, Folk2Folk said the platform’s secondary market has created more than £2.9m in liquidity for its investors so far this year.