The Liberum AltFi Index: Growth Rates Soar Across the Peer-to-Business Space

One particularly lively sub-sector of the alternative finance world has stolen the limelight in this month’s statistical breakdown.

All of the top five platforms in terms of month-on-month growth rate hail from the peer-to-business lending space: Saving Stream, Wellesley & Co., Assetz Capital, UK Bond Network and Folk2Folk. This is hardly surprising given the variety of innovative new entrants within sector. Funding Circle – the incumbent and leader in this area – sits above 10 platforms of scale enough to boast cumulative volumes of at least a 0.1% of the overall Liberum AltFi Index*.

With such a plethora of serious operators, could we soon see the peer-to-business sector (£556,178,261) rival the consumer lending space (£830,707,265) in terms of scale? The latter sector exhibited a growth rate of 5.50% throughout June, compared to a 10.40% figure for the business lending field. Of course, new faces within the consumer lending arena will balance out this disparity in growth. QuidCycle and Lending Works are prime candidates to enter the Index over the next few months.

There were three particularly strong performances in June worth highlighting:

• Funding Circle enjoyed a month full of milestones. The platform passed a significant landmark by surging past £300 million in total loan volume, having lent upwards of £100 million thus far in 2014 alone. Funding Circle’s 3 month market share is roughly twice that of its closest competitor in the P2B lending space.
• Ascendant secured lending platform Wellesley & Co. moved into 3^rd place within the peer-to-business sector in terms of cumulative origination volume, and is fast approaching the £50 million mark. The monthly growth rate of 44.60% is only the third highest figure posted by Wellesley in the past 6 months – but June was its finest month in terms of volume originated, with £14,661,809 going through the platform.
• After its first dip below a 20% growth rate in May, Assetz Capital has “bounced back” to its regular pattern with 24.97% growth in June. The platform also posted a personal best in terms of absolute monthly volume with £7,380,000. Wellesley and Assetz’ consistent appearances in our Index highlights serve as a reminder that the property lending space is perhaps the hottest within the alternative finance spectrum. 

The Index has seen two new platforms enter the fray this month. As mentioned above, the innovative UK Bond Network has now been included in the peer-to-business lending market. In the equity space, CrowdBnk has now entered into the Index – having channeled £2,103,360 in equity capital to young businesses so far. The equity space has a number of platforms seemingly poised for inclusion within the Index.

You can download the full index here.

* A cumulative volume of 0.1% of the overall Liberum AltFi Index is the minimum requirement for a platform's inclusion within the Index.