Australian small business-lending marketplace Bigstone has raised $3m in funding. The capital comes from private equity firm CVC, as well the founders of Bangkok-based fund Lighthouse Venture Partners Paniti Junhasavasdikul and Narith Phadungchai.
The company’s online platform connects small businesses looking to raise $250,000 with individual investors rather than banks.
Bigstone, which only launched in June, says it has already received $6m in loan requests and aims to facilitate $10m worth of loans and serve more than 200m small businesses by the end of the year.
It says it will use the capital to fuel expansion and marketing, as well as eventually pushing beyond Australia to serve the South-East Asian market, where there is less access to traditional loans and investors.
Bigstone monetises its platform by taking a 1% to 5% cut from loans and 1% of the total earnings an investor makes on the loan.
The firm says the $3m will give it at least a 12-month runway.
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