Funding Circle plans to raise an estimate of £300 million from an IPO on the London Stock Exchange. As a result, Funding Circle will become the first of Britain’s new generation of financial technology companies to go public. Additionally, existing shareholders will also be able to sell existing shares.

The peer-to-peer lender offers loans to small businesses in the US, Germany, the Netherlands and the UK. Funding Circle is the leading small and medium enterprise loans platform in these countries.

Founded in August 2010, the company has leant over £5 billion in loans to 50,000 small businesses by connecting them with 80,000 retail and institutional investors looking to lend money. This includes £1 billion from the first half of 2018 alone.

Financial technology, or “FinTech”, is the new technology that competes with the traditional financial services.

Mobile banking and cryptocurrency are a few examples of technologies that increase the accessibility of financial services to the general public.

Today, London has become a hub for financial technology. In addition to Funding Circle, Monzo, TransferWise, Algomi and Blockchain are just a few FinTech companies to call London their home.

Market analysts are expecting a valuation of Funding Circle to approach £2 billion after its IPO. Funding Circle could sell at least 25% worth of the company to increase its value.

CEO and co-founder of Funding Circle, Samir Desai, said: “At Funding Circle our mission is to build a better financial world. Today’s announcement is the start of the next stage in our exciting and transformational journey.

“Over the last eight years, we have worked hard to build a platform that is number one in every market we operate in. By combining cutting-edge technology with our own proprietary credit models and sophisticated data analytics, we deliver a better deal for small businesses and investors around the world.”