LendInvest was officially launched in May 2013 having been spun out of short-term mortgage lending business Montello which was founded in late 2008. LendInvest is now the world’s largest P2P marketplace for mortgages, having financed over £300m of mortgages in its first two years.
Beijing Kunlun is a Chinese technology company that was originally backed by leading Silicon Valley VC Sequoia Capital, and has core businesses in gaming, social communications platforms and technology investments.
Beijing Kunlun’s CEO, Yahui Zhou, will also join LendInvest’s board of directors. Zhou is a self-made billionaire, who listed Beijing Kunlun on the Shenzen Stock Exchange earlier this year.
LendInvest is the UK’s fourth largest P2P platform, and has been one of the fastest growing platforms globally the last year or so. To date the business has been entirely self-funded, and Beijing Kunlun will be its first outside investor.
LendInvest CEO, Christian Faes, said: “Whilst we weren’t necessarily looking to raise capital now, we have spent a lot of time talking to a lot of VCs, and trying to find the right partner for LendInvest. Mr Zhou has genuine first-hand experience of building an extremely successful technology business, and taking his company public. As such we believe that we’ve found a partner that will be able to add significant value to LendInvest’s business.
“We’re extremely excited by this deal, as it give us the resources to consolidate and accelerate LendInvest’s growth.”
The investment is still subject to regulatory approval by the Chinese government.
Ryan Fowler is editor of Tech City News.
