A Manchester-based lending provider for SMEs has said it is moving closer to securing a banking license.
B-North, which submitted an application for a banking license in 2019, plans to deliver loans of between £500,000 and £5m through its premise of operating regional ‘lending pods’.
It comes as the provider said it has raised a further £1m, part of a £20m series A fundraising round designed to give B-North the necessary capital to finalise its banking licence process.
B-North chief executive Jonathan Thompson said: “We are using this ‘bridge’ round to extend our cash runway and enable us to complete our Series A fundraising as efficiently as possible in the coming months, at which point we will bring the business to market.
“The last couple of years have seen us painstakingly bring together the different, important elements required to deliver fast, efficient lending to the UK’s SMEs.
“We are very much ready to go and are excited to get out there and start helping businesses realise their ambitions.”
The latest raise follows two fundraising rounds completed by B-North, worth a combined £6.9m.
B-North said it teamed up with County Durham-based Growth Capital Ventures to announce the fundraise.
Craig Peterson, co-founder and chief operating officer of Growth Capital Ventures, said: “This fundraise has created a rare and attractive opportunity to own a stake in a business that’s about to bring to market a technology-driven UK bank focused on providing finance to scale-ups and SMEs.
“The levelling up of the UK economy simply cannot be achieved in the current financial landscape and I am very confident that B-North and its unique regional bank model will be an important addition to the supply side of credit to UK SMEs.
“Getting more funds to high-growth SMEs will be vital as the UK attempts to reinvigorate an economy that has been damaged by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“SMEs account for around 60 per cent of private sector employment and have been the major driver of job growth over the past ten years.”
