Orca Money has successfully raised £280k seed investment from TechStart NI, the Halo NI EIS Fund and private investors, including members of the NI Fintech Syndicate. The funds will be used to build on the company’s peer-to-peer lending focused financial media site, ‘Orca Retail’, which was launched in early 2016.
The alternative finance market has continued to show strong growth in the UK, with the Peer-to-peer lending market growing to £3.13bn in 2016. With so many different platforms available, Orca Money makes it easy for investors to analyse the various deals offered and allow them to make better decisions.
The company, founded by Iain Niblock and Jordan Stodart was incorporated in 2015, as the pair joined the tech accelerator, Start Planet NI, based in Belfast. It was here where Orca Money grew and caught the eye of Venture Capitalist firm, TechStart NI, who led the seed round.
The team of five is also developing an analytic software solution, called ‘Orca Analytics’, which will allow IFAs to recommend peer-to-peer investments to their clients. A third product, ‘Orca Investments’, will be launched early 2018 allowing retail investors and IFAs to invest in a diversified fund, comprised of peer-to-peer investments.
Iain Niblock said “Peer-to-peer offers investors higher, more stable returns. It’s an asset class knocking on the door of being mainstream, with massive growth potential through the Innovative Finance ISA. We’re excited to be developing tools to help investors and IFAs benefit from P2P and the investment in our business will help us to continue to grow.”
Paul Clancy, Manager of Halo at Catalyst Inc added “We are delighted that the final investment of Halo NI EIS Fund has gone into Orca Money. The investment has been made following experienced investors such as TechStart NI and Alex Lee, leader of the NI Fintech Syndicate. With alternative finance to businesses expected to grow to over £13.6bn by 2020, Orca Money’s platform will allow retail investors to make smarter decisions.”
