Funding Circle, the peer-to-peer lender, is preparing for a £1bn London float, potentially in the autumn.

Launched in 2010, Funding Circle is regarded as the leading lending platform for small businesses, and has lent over USD5 billion globally, and has grown quickly in the US, where it has facilitated over USD1 billion in funding, becoming the first platform to have facilitated more than USD1 billion across two markets.

The company estimates that 10 per cent of investor money now comes from government sources, including the British Business Bank, European Investment Bank, KfW, the German government-owned development bank, and local councils across the UK. The business has raised GBP250m in equity capital from the same investors that backed Facebook, Twitter and Airbnb.

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