CapitalRise returns £36m to investors despite Covid-19 challenges
CapitalRise has distributed more than £36m to investors over the 12 months to the end of July 2021, despite Covid-19’s continued impact on the property development market.
This means that since inception in 2016 to the end of July 2021, the prime property finance platform had returned £66m in total to investors, at an average return of 8.7 per cent with no losses or defaults, according to its annual results published on Companies House. To date, CapitalRise has returned £93m to investors in total.
Over the period, CapitalRise was also able to grow lending volumes by 38 per cent, taking the total lent since inception up to £122m, secured against £509m of prime property assets in London and the Home Counties. The financial year featured the firm’s largest ever loan and its largest single capital raise. The group also recorded a 60 per cent year-on-year increase in crowd fundraising.
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In January 2021, it closed a £2.3m fundraise on Seedrs.
“CapitalRise is in a very strong position to continue its growth over the coming year. After our fundraise, we are very well-capitalised, providing us with the opportunity to invest in the business, primarily in staff and in tech,” said Uma Rajah, founder and chief executive of CapitalRise.
“This will allow us to improve and refine our offering and accelerate our growth. We are confident in our strategy for the business and will continue to take a consistent approach, only lending to experienced borrowers on high quality real estate in the right locations with realistic valuations, while increasing the volume and size of our loans to feed the ever-growing investor appetite.”
Rajah said that the firm also agreed a £72m funding line with an institutional investor over the period and has grown its headcount by 25 per cent. This will allow the company to further increase its capacity to fund a greater volume of loans.
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A key part of the group’s business strategy is the growth of its network of high net worth individuals, family offices and financial institutions, which will enable it to increase lending volumes, she noted.
The directors of CapitalRise have opted not to include a copy of the income statement within the financial statements, but Rajah said the firm has significantly grown its revenue, while total costs have remained flat.
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