Blend Network

Blend Network targets £30m of lending in 2019



Blend Network has revealed that it aims to lend five to six times as much in 2019 as it did last year.


The P2P lending platform provided £5.2m to SME developers in 2018, its first year of trading.

Speaking to Development Finance Today, Paul Watson, head of origination at Blend Network (pictured above), stated that it has access to capital from its equity investors as well as high-net-worth and private individual lenders, and was looking to deploy up to £30m this year across the UK regions.

This origination will be sourced directly from SME developers as well as building new relationships with brokers.

Paul joined Blend last month from Octopus Property to enable the platform to better serve its existing clients, as well as to drive the acquisition of new borrowers.

Blend has also increased the maximum size of its loans to £3m, but may lend higher than this if the deal makes sense.

“We are looking to fund the right deals and keep our lending criteria flexible,” said Paul.

“As long as the project makes sense and we think the developer can deliver the project, we should be able to do it.”

The lender will be targeting the North of the UK over the coming months as it believes that there is an undersupply of funding for SME property developers in this area for sub-£1m development loans.



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