Channel Capital will deploy first tranche of $300 million fund for fintech borrowers

The first $100 million tranche of the $300 million strategy will be immediately distributed to leading fintech borrowers.

Channel’s funds will be distributed to digital lending fintech platforms that require capital to finance their loans to small and medium-sized businesses. A significant pipeline has been built and capital will begin to be deployed immediately.

Channel is a UK-based asset manager authorized and regulated by the FCA. Over the past 15 years, it has distributed over $20 billion in credit facilities, including loans, working capital facilities and securities.

Recently, Channel has invested heavily in developing proprietary systems that use APIs, Open Banking and cloud-based, AI-powered technologies to prospect, assess and monitor SME credit risk. In addition to offering SMEs funding through fintech lenders, Channel’s technology infrastructure will later be available to partners to roll out their own SME lending propositions.

Channels Fintech Lending Fund will initially be distributed through lending platforms in developed markets in Europe and North America.

The fund seeks to invest in various portfolios of corporate credit risk on a senior or mezzanine basis, with junior participation from the fintech principal. The capital is flexible and can be scaled quickly with growth.

In recent years, fintech lenders have originated hundreds of billions of USD in loans and have grown exponentially. Debt investments (such as business loans) are popular among many small and medium-sized businesses whose founders and owners do not want to dilute their equity capital.

Paul Wilson, Channel’s Chief Investment Officer, said: “The investment in our Fintech Lending Fund is a significant step forward for Channel – it will see us work closely with other digital platforms to facilitate loans for SMEs that are faster, easier and t dilute their business Indeed, the deployment of dedicated funds like this is critical to supporting and stimulating the ongoing growth of the global SME sector.

“The support our fund has received underlines investors’ growing appetite in the fintech lending area. Moreover, it is a clear demonstration of the confidence investors have in Channel’s track record in managing their investments.”

Walter Gontarek, CEO of Channel, added: “Providing much-needed capital to the often-overlooked SME sector has always been a goal for Channel. Fintech lending platforms are a critical part of that – making it faster and easier for deserving SMEs to access loans.

“We have been tirelessly improving our own digital lending capabilities and have exciting developments underway in that area. Meanwhile, the major investment in our Fintech Lending Fund will see us working with a greater number of technology-driven lending platforms, initially in Europe and North America, to see the capital distributed in tandem to the global SME community.”