P2P JustLend wins £100,000 investment on Dragon’s Den
Peer-to-peer lending platform JustLend has won a £100,000 investment on the BBC’s Dragon’s Den, after two entrepreneurs made offers to chief executive Craig Smith.
Multi-millionaire investors Deborah Meaden and Steven Bartlett both offered to invest £100,000 in the platform, in return for an 11 per cent and 10 per cent stake, respectively. Smith chose to accept Bartlett’s offer, which valued JustLend at £1m.
Bartlett is the youngest ever ‘dragon’ to appear on Dragon’s Den. He is co-founder of Social Chain, and the host of the Diary of a CEO podcast, which was the most-listened to podcast in Europe in 2021.
Following a nervy pitch, Smith’s investment request was rejected by Peter Jones, Touker Suleyman, and Sara Davies, with Jones describing Smith’s pitch as “a disaster” after he was unable to answer some questions about the company’s technology.
“Our chief technology officer didn’t come because he was nervous about being on TV,” Smith explained.
However, Meaden told Smith that she really liked what he was doing, and praised his family and friends lending platform as being “very of the moment”.
“It gives dignity to the person who is wanting to borrow money without begging friends and family so it kind of takes away those really difficult moments and I think there is going to be an awful lot more of that going on,” she said.
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JustLend allows borrowers to create their own loan campaigns to raise funds. They can set their own repayment terms, including interest rate and term length, and send the campaign to up to 10 family members and friends to invest in. Investors will earn a small interest rate in return.
Smith had initially asked for a £100,000 investment in return for a two per cent equity stake in the company, which would value the platform at £5m. Meaden said she would offer all of the money but in return for an 11 per cent stake. In the end, Smith opted to accept Bartlett’s counter-offer, of £100,000 in return for a 10 per cent stake.
Last year, Smith told Peer2Peer Finance News that he had raised £175,000 so far and was targeting a total seed raise of £1m. He added that he hopes the platform will become regulated in the future.
On the TV show, Smith confirmed that the company had filed a patent application in the US – the first step towards launching across the Atlantic.
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