Borro raises £13m of funding

Of that total OurCrowd stumped up £4m, while existing investor Rocket Internet, which has grown its stake in Borro to 10%, also contributed.

Paul Aitken, founder and chief executive of Borro, said: “This funding will enable us to accelerate our growth in our core US and UK businesses.

“We will continue to grow through our already successful partnership channels as well as our expansion into new product areas.”

Borro’s other existing investors who participated were Canaan Partners, Eden Ventures and Augmentum Capital.

Borro, which lends against luxury assets such as fine art, antiques, jewellery, luxury watches, fine wine, prestige and classic cars, has extended close to £120m in luxury asset-backed loans since its inception in 2009 and 2012 in the UK and US respectively.

Jon Medved, founder and chief executive of OurCrowd, said: “In less than two years, OurCrowd went from participating in early seed rounds, to now leading a £13m funding round together with global venture capital firms such as Canaan and renowned internet company, Rocket Internet.

“Working with Borro marks the single largest equity crowdfunding round ever completed and demonstrates how equity crowdfunding can complement traditional funding sources.

“We are thrilled to be investing in quality companies like Borro that are redefining the FinTech industry.”

And Oliver Samwer, chief executive of Rocket Internet, added: “The financial services sector is ready for major disruption by innovative online companies. Borro is clearly one of them and with our investment we underline our belief in the company’s highly promising development and expansion potential.”

This round of investment pushes the total capital raised by Borro over £130m.