Smarta 100
winner in 2011, borro have secured a £20m loan from Smarta 100
supporters Octopus Investments.
borro, which specializes in personal asset lending, has gone
from strength to strength since becoming a Smarta 100 winner and
will use the extra funds to meet the ever-growing customer demand
for its services.
Launched in the UK in 2008 and the US in January of this year,
borro focuses on providing liquidity from luxury personal assets
such as watches, jewellery, high-end cars, to fine art and
antiques.
This £20m loan boost comes two weeks after borro announced
they raised a further £16m in a fundraising round from a
venture capital consortium led by tech investment giant Canaan
Partners.
Ribbit Capital also invested in the round, and previous
investors Augmentum Capital, Eden Ventures, and Rockridge
participated as well.
"This new funding line represents the confidence the
market has in our business, and marks the next development in our
relationship with Octopus Investments," says Paul Aitken, CEO
and Founder of borro. It is another exciting step for borro,
and will allow us meet the demand from clients for our unique
lending proposition, therefore maximizing our opportunity to become
the leading global online liquidity marketplace for luxury personal
assets that provides a significant new lending capacity to meet
demand for our lending."
Hugh Costello, Investment Manager at Octopus, was delighted too,
saying, "We have been working with borro's management team for
the last 18 months and we continue to be impressed by borro's
product, its business model and the team. There is significant
growth potential within this area of specialist lending and borro
is rapidly asserting itself as the market leader in the personal
asset backed lending sector."
For more information about borro, click
here