London embedded financing platform announces ‘major lending milestone’

YouLend, a London based embedded financing platform, has reached a ‘major lending milestone’, successfully providing 150,000 instances of funding to small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across the UK, EU, and the US, since its launch in 2015.

It is estimated that YouLend-backed SMEs have contributed £6.8bn in revenue to the GDP across our core markets, and have experienced a 26 per cent uplift in sales in the 6 months following funding.

The funding milestone follows YouLend’s successful expansion in recent years into the US and major European markets, including Germany, Netherlands, Poland, and Spain. In addition to expansion, YouLend has also seen sustained growth in the UK and Ireland, making it one of the largest embedded finance platforms globally.

The growth has accelerated from newly secured partnerships with leading ecommerce and payments platforms such as Amazon, Just Eat Takeaway.com, and Dojo.

YouLend recently published an impact report, The Widening Access to Capital Report, which found that YouLend attracted 12 per cent more applications from female-led businesses and was more than twice as likely to finance female-led businesses than the UK average.

The report also indicated that YouLend makes fast, accurate lending decisions thanks to its sophisticated, AI-driven decision-making model which leverages a broad range of financial data to paint an accurate picture of a business’s health.

This enables a 90 per cent approval rate for YouLend applicants, well above the 64 per cent average in the UK SME lending market.

The unbiased model also enables YouLend to grant financing to SMEs who have been underserved by traditional finance providers. As a result, over half (58 per cent) of YouLend’s total 150,000 instances of funding went towards two of the most deprived regions in the UK, serving low-income business owners.

Jakob Pethick, Chief Commercial Officer at YouLend, commented: “This milestone underscores YouLend’s growth across the US, UK, and the rest of Europe as we continue to invest in our platform.

“At the heart of our mission is a commitment to supporting businesses with finance wherever and whenever they need it. This is why we will continue to work with our strategic partners to empower businesses with fast, flexible, and fair financial products to grow and thrive.”

By Matthew Neville – Senior Correspondent, Bdaily

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