Iwoca inks £270m in debt funding from Citi and Barclays

Iwoca has agreed a £270m package of debt funding, with investors including Citibank and Barclays.

The European SME lender – headed up by Christoph Rieche (pictured) – has secured £150m from Citibank and BNY Mellon-owned asset manager Insight Investment to support its expansion in Germany, as well as an additional £120m from Barclays and Varde Partners for its growth plans in the UK.

The latest agreements follow £200m in funding from Barclays and Värde Partners in October last year, and £170m from Pollen Street Capital in January 2023, taking total gross investment in the company to over £1bn to date.

Iwoca said that the debt financing commitments will support growing demand for SME finance as mainstream lenders rein in their small business funding.

The lender’s latest SME Expert Index found that 76 per cent of brokers report that high street banks are reducing their appetite for funding SMEs, while 86 per cent expect demand for finance to increase over the next six months.

Read more: SMEs seek larger loans as banks reduce lending

Since its launch in 2012, Iwoca has provided £3bn in loans to SMEs in the UK and Germany.

The firm has also reported a record first quarter, with over £200m lent across 9,000 business loans in the UK and Germany over the period.