Funding Circle has announced a new lending partnership with the UK’s first app-based bank, Atom bank, in what will provide up to £150m of funding to small businesses.

Atom bank is a long-standing and returning investor in the SME lending platform, with the latest commitment bringing Atom’s total lending with Funding Circle to approximately £800m.

The new lending partnership will support SMEs through the latest iteration of the Government-backed recovery loan scheme offered by Funding Circle, which aims to help improve access to finance for SMEs.

Atom bank will harness Funding Circle’s technology and distribution platform to deploy funds to support UK SMEs and deploy capital to the real economy, helping businesses manage their finances and grow their communities.

Funding Circle enables small businesses to access funding, offering a customer experience powered by data and technology. SMEs can complete an application in six minutes, receive a decision in as little as nine seconds and have funding in their account within 24 hours.

Chief executive officer at Funding Circle, Lisa Jacobs, said: "Access to finance remains crucial for small businesses so we’re delighted to once again be partnering with Atom bank to help more SMEs get the funding they need to win. The recovery loan scheme is an important way for us to be able to say yes to more businesses in line with our medium-term plan, and we’re continuing to extend our track record of delivering robust and attractive loan returns for our investors in spite of the changing economic environment."

Chief commercial officer at Atom bank, Chris Storey, added: "This partnership forms a key part of our ongoing commitment to UK business owners. We have an ambition to support as many SMEs as possible as we scale the bank, and continuing to leverage Funding Circle’s market leading tech provides us with a fantastic way to deliver on that ambition.

"We recently announced our first full year of operating profit, followed by a successful capital raise and securitisation, so Atom is in a particularly strong position to help those firms who may be struggling to access finance. We have been supporting businesses through the latest iteration of the recovery loan scheme, so we look forward to now helping even more UK SMEs invest and grow as we move into the new year."

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