Elfin Market goes for growth after smashing Seedrs target
Elfin Market is gearing up for growth after its oversubscribed funding round closed on Seedrs last month.
The peer-to-peer consumer lending platform – which offers a flexible credit line called the Elfin Card – raised more than £1.38m on the equity crowdfunding platform, surpassing its £1.2m target.
Lakshithe Wagalath (pictured), co-founder and chief operating officer of Elfin Market, told Alternative Credit Investor that the company will use the proceeds of the fundraise to invest in the business and build on its rapid growth this year.
Read more: Elfin Market facilitates loans of more than £17m in 2022
“We’re experiencing 10 per cent month-on-month growth in both the number of users and loan volumes,” he said.
“Elfin Market has now lent out £60m to date and our loan book is currently valued at £30m.”
The platform obtained an additional consumer credit authorisation from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in December 2022, meaning it can now lend its own funds sourced from institutional investors.
Wagalath revealed that the platform agreed a deal with a UK asset manager earlier this year, which started funding consumer loans via the platform in June.
“Our investor base is two thirds retail, one third institutional,” he said. “We’ve attracted a lot of investors from our Seedrs funding rounds.”
Wagalath added that the platform is currently seeing a high volume of ISA transfers into its Innovative Finance ISA.