By Anna Irrera
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Funding Circle, a peer-to-peer lending marketplace used by small- and medium-sized companies, has raised $100 million (81.98 million pounds) in an investment round led by venture capital firm Accel.
Existing investors including Baillie Gifford, DST Global and Index Ventures, Ribbit Capital, Rocket Internet, Sands Capital Ventures, Temasek and Union Square (NYSE:SQ) Ventures also participated in the round, the company said. Accel, formerly Accel Partners, first backed the company in 2013.
Funding Circle, a London-based website founded in 2010 with a presence in the United States and several European countries, is one of Europe’s largest and most valuable fin-tech startups. It connects a small business looking for a loan to investors through its online…