Zopa and LendInvest benefit as fintech investment triples

Zopa, MarketFinance and LendInvest were among the main recipients of institutional fintech investment last year, as overall volumes into the sector tripled.

Research by S&P Global Market Intelligence and business information provider Crunchbase shows total fintech investment in the UK, France and Germany rose to more than $15bn (£11bn) in 2021, up from $5bn in 2020 when investment almost halved annually.

The UK led the growth in investment with more than $10bn raised, the research showed.

Read more: 2021 saw record fintech investment in UK

Alternative property lender LendInvest raised $682.43m during the year, which was the third largest amount among UK fintechs behind $714m raised by Capital on Tap and $750m by cryptocurrency loan platform Celsius Network.

Alternative business lender MarketFinance raised $383.35m during the year while Zopa – the former peer-to-peer lending platform turned digital bank – attracted $327.27m.

LendInvest was previously open to retail investors but opted to focus instead on institutional funding in 2017.

Zopa, the world’s oldest P2P lender, confirmed its exit from the retail market earlier this year as it focuses on its banking brand.

Its investors are set to have their P2P money returned by the end of this month.

Peer2Peer Finance News reported in October that Zopa was considering the “strategic direction” of its P2P lending platform.

Its 2020 annual accounts said future growth will be driven by balance sheet lending.