Funding Circle, a leading small business loans platform in the UK, U.S., Germany and the Netherlands, announced its plans to enter the Canadian market and expand access to fast, affordable and transparent financing for Canadian small businesses.

Funding Circle plans to establish operations in Canada in the second half of 2019 with an office located in Toronto. The business will be led by Tom Eilon, who previously led the commercial strategy for Funding Circle in the United Kingdom.

Since launching in 2010, Funding Circle has connected more than 60,000 small businesses around the world with financing through its online platform. Funding Circle's platform model provides businesses with fast and flexible access to competitively priced financing and allows investors to earn attractive, stable returns. In the United States, Funding Circle now has $1 billion small business loans outstanding, more than almost 98 percent of FDIC-insured banks, the company said citing FDIC statistics.

Canadian SMEs are the engine of the economy and employ 90 percent of the private sector workforce. Despite this, many still report difficulties obtaining finance. While bank lending to large businesses in Canada has recovered since the global recession, lending to small businesses has not kept pace — to the point that small business loans as a percentage of total outstanding business lending has fallen to its lowest point in 10 years. Funding Circle's platform addresses this by directly connecting businesses that want to borrow with investors looking for returns, creating a superior experience for both.

"We have been evaluating options for expansion over the last year. Canada's stable, growing economy coupled with good access to credit data and progressive regulatory environment made it the obvious choice," said Eilon, Managing Director, Funding Circle Canada. "The most important factor though was the clear need for additional funding options among Canadian SMEs. We are looking forward to officially launching later this year and supporting Canadian SMEs to access the finance they need to grow, create new jobs and fuel their local economies."

"Funding Circle's entry into the Canadian market is a fantastic addition to the thriving Fintech sector in Toronto, and a welcome added option for small business to access finance," said Jennifer Reynolds, President and CEO, Toronto Finance International.