Relendex Seeking Capital Through Crowdfunding

Peer-to-peer lending platform Relendex is hoping to raise funds through crowdfunding to further grow the business.

The campaign has been listed on Angels Den and has set an initial target of £150,000 in exchange for equity. If secured, the funds will be used to affect platform software enhancements, key personnel recruitment, targeted marketing and other refinements as the business moves towards break-even and profitability.

“Our business is in the right place at the right time, banks aren’t efficient and they don’t have as much money to spend as they did before the crash,” said co-founder and CEO Michael Lynn. “Our crowdfunding platform, for commercial property lending, is a way of by-passing the banks.”

According to Relendex research, there are currently £285 billion of loans outstanding against UK commercial property and large residential schemes – held largely by UK lenders and building schemes, as well as international lenders of whom the majority are German and North American banks. Of that figure over £150 billion is due for refinancing by 2016.

But many traditional funding sources are thought to be drying up. 28 of the 74 lending institutions surveyed by De Montfort University indicated that they were not open for business in 2012. With bank balance sheets shrinking, Relendex hope to inject capital into the funding gap they leave behind.

“We want Relendex to become accepted as the alternative method of funding commercial property in the £2m to £20m range, and to expand both in the UK and overseas (with partners) as a successful business model,” said Lynn. “It will be seen as the logical way to bypass the banks, who are inefficient and have less funds to lend than pre-2008. We will work with the banks to take over some of their existing loan books (using the platform to refinance them) and bring many institutional lenders to the platform.”

You can view the campaign by following the link below:

http://www.angelsden.com/project-view/Relendex/