European SME lender iwoca has secured a new £200 million package of debt funding from Citi and Waterfall Asset Management, taking investment in the business to nearly £1.5 billion since launching in 2012.
The new funding line means that iwoca can double its SME loan offer ceiling to £1 million via its core product ‘Flexi-Loan’ and, in doing so, meet demand for larger loans from medium-sized businesses in Europe.
Data from iwoca’s latest SME Expert Index revealed that nearly one in three brokers believe that loans of more than £100,000 will see the most new applications in the next six months.
Year-to-date to the end of October, iwoca has lent £730 million across 35,000 business loans, up 76% and 82% year on year, respectively.
Christoph Rieche, co-founder and chief executive officer, iwoca
Christoph Rieche, iwoca’s co-founder and chief executive officer, said: “Our vision is to become even more relevant to more businesses. Medium-sized businesses tell us that – just like smaller businesses – they are finding it difficult to access working capital finance.
“Therefore we have stepped up our offering to also meet their needs with £1 million loans.”
Over the past two years, iwoca has attracted £740 million in debt funding from partners including Citi, Barclays, Värde Partners, Pollen Street Capital and Insight Investment.
In May this year, iwoca announced a £270 million package of debt funding from Citi and Barclays.
He added: “We’re very happy to expand our cooperation with Citi and look forward to being able to finance many more SMEs in the UK with their support. Like so many SMEs, it’s been a rollercoaster over the last decade.”
Further reading: CRIF partners with iwoca ‘to make instant finance a reality’ for SMEs
