Ex-Funding Circle CRO to launch SME lending platform

Funding Circle’s former chief risk officer has raised £7m to launch a new digital lending platform for small businesses.

According to Sky News, Jerome Le Luel is close to unveiling details of his new start-up venture Triver.

Triver will offer instant credit decisions for small business borrowers. It is expected to launch within the next couple of months.

Le Luel spent almost seven years as Funding Circle’s chief risk officer and head of lending strategy, before leaving in May 2022 to establish Triver. He has also held senior roles at Barclays and at Capital One.

Sky News has reported that Triver’s backers include Stride, Axeleo Capital and Motive Partners, with scout investment from Silicon Valley giants Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia Capital.

Triver aims to “address the structural challenges confronting small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), such as unfavourable payment terms, volatile sales trends and a lack of financial management expertise,” it has been reported.

Read more: Funding Circle finds SMEs resilient despite challenges

It will offer advances on SME’s customer invoices at competitive rates, and will use open banking data, artificial intelligence and digital processing to speed up decision making.

The company’s website has not yet gone live, but the company is currently advertising itself as offering “instant capital in a click.”

Read more: Opportunity for non-bank lenders as PRA rules put £44bn of SME lending at risk