Funding Circle (www.fundingcircle.com) is the world’s leading lending platform for small business finance, matching businesses who want to borrow with investors who want to lend in the UK, US and Europe. Since launching in 2010, investors at Funding Circle –including 50,000 individuals, local and national government and financial institutions –have now lent $2.5 billion to 20,000 businesses (as of August 2016). Approximately 10% 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. Funding Circle was the first direct lendingplatform to announce a formal referral partnership with Santander, one of the UK’s leading high street banks, and has since announced a similar partnership with RBS. It has raised ~$300 million in equity capital from the same investors that backed Facebook, Twitter, Airbnb and Wealthfront.