SME lending bank B-North has raised more than £560,000 for its latest funding round, beating its initial target.
The FinTech, which was initially targeting £500,000, raised the funds to extend its cash runaway as it continues to make “strong progress†with the Prudential Regulatory Authority (PRA) and Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) licensing process.
This investment is part of the company’s continued efforts to raise £20m for its Series A round.
Prior to this investment, the company raised £2m via the crowdfunding platforms GrowthFunders and Crowdcube. The FinTech also raised a £4.4m investment from Estonian banking group LHV and an undisclosed capital commitments from the Greater Manchester Combined Authority and Channel 4 Ventures.
Once licensed, the company will operate through a UK-wide network of “lending pods†to supply finance to regional SME businesses. With the support of its cloud-native banking system, B-North aims to offer loans to businesses ten-times faster than the industry standard.
It hopes to launch its first “pod†in Manchester later this year.
B-North co-founder and CEO Jonathan Thompson said, “We are delighted to continue to welcome investors to B-North at such an exciting stage in our journey.
“Our initial target of £500,000 to add to our £3m bridge round will provide B-North with an extended cash runway to ensure that our activities can continue at pace – and allows investors to back our vision for the future of UK lending.
“We continue to make good progress on the banking licence process and the completion of our £20 million ‘Series A’ round ahead of the mobilisation stage which will see us start to provide much-needed funding into the underserved SME lending market.
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