INVEST RAISE ABOUT INSTITUTIONAL arrow_back BACK Downing Ventures Invests £3.5m in Funding Platform for SMEs 18 September 2020 Downing Ventures has completed a $10 million Series A investment round in Funding Xchange with the closure of the second tranche of financing co-led with Gresham House Ventures, and additional funding from Hambledon Capital. Funding Xchange is a business funding marketplace that unblocks access to business finance for SMEs. During the Covid-19 crisis, this has been particularly important in keeping both vulnerable and established businesses operating. Funding Xchange was founded in 2014 to transform the SME lending market with the core aims of making SME finance more accessible, affordable, and sustainable. The unique technology at the heart of Funding Xchange delivers quotes to SMEs in three minutes, decisions in five minutes and funds in the bank in 10 minutes. Funding Xchange is now white labelling and deploying its technology to banks and lenders to dramatically reduce service costs. The proven technologies embedded in the platform deliver 60-70% cost savings for established and challenger banks looking for operational efficiencies but also the ability to adapt to changing market conditions and enhance the customer experience. Finally, the analytics insights at the centre of the Funding Xchange model enable the business to support banks and lenders in the assessment of their product mix and portfolio. With government intervention loans to support COVID-19 impacted businesses, Funding Xchange is particularly well placed to address both the provision of funding and the intelligent management of flexible repayment programmes. Co-founder and CEO of Funding Xchange, Katrin Herrling, said: “The current crisis has accelerated the trend towards digitisation and the use of intelligent decisioning that uses access to live data. We are delighted that our investors are seeing the significant opportunity to transform SME lending to make funding more accessible, more affordable and more sustainable through the deployment of our intelligent infrastructure.” Leading the investors, Daniel Cheung from Downing Ventures commented: “In the current economic climate, it is apparent that technology solutions are critical to help SMEs access finance at speed and at scale. Funding Xchange continues to play an important role in driving innovation in this market. Downing Ventures has been impressed with Katrin and the team’s ability to navigate these uncertain times and remains hugely supportive of the potential of Funding Xchange.” Henry Atly from Gresham House Ventures who co-led the funding round, added: “We are very excited to continue backing Katrin and the Funding Xchange team as they transform SME lending. Particularly at the current time, access to capital is critical for small businesses, and Funding Xchange has a market leading solution to help companies get funded.” Ends For press enquiries, please contact: Lallie Fraser, PR Consultant Lallie.fraser@downing.co.uk +44 (0) 7743 077773 Downing Home Our story The team News & views Responsible investing Careers Contact us Invest Bonds EIS Estate planning Downing Fund Managers VCT Existing investor Investor centre Institutional Institutional investors Infrastructure asset management Raise Development Capital Energy Healthcare Leisure Property Wholesale Finance Ventures Ventures home About ventures Portfolio Ventures team Ventures careers Legal & support Privacy & cookie policy Information Security Policy Statement Terms and conditions Terms of business Inducement disclosure FAQs Pillar III Modern slavery statement Fraud prevention Complaints Social Twitter LinkedIn Downing LLP does not provide advice or make personal recommendations and investors are strongly urged to seek independent advice before investing. Investments offered on this website carry a higher risk than many other types of investment and prospective investors should be aware that capital is at risk and the value of their investment may go down as well as up. Any investment should only be made on the basis of the relevant product literature and your attention is drawn to the risk, fees and taxation factors contained therein. Tax treatment depends on individual circumstances of each investor and may be subject to change in the future. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance. Downing LLP is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (Firm Reference Number 545025). Registered in England No. OC341575. Registered Office: St Magnus House, 3 Lower Thames Street, London EC3R 6HD. VAT Number: 112 940 149 We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. Click here for more information. DISMISS