Venture capital firms have come to see small business lending as an industry ripe for a shakeup, given the slow pace of lending since the financial crisis and unmet demand for credit, which is estimated at billions of dollars a year. Funding Circle, a British peer-to-peer lender, is the latest to benefit: The company announced on Wednesday a new $65 million dose of capital from Index Ventures and other firms.
Funding Circle’s online platform lets individual or institutional investors fund loans that meet its underwriting standards. So far it has lent more than $525 million, mostly in the U.K., since it was launched in 2010.
