iwoca has closed a GBP 250 million funding facility with a UK bank and Waterfall Asset Management to expand its SME lending capacity.
The facility is structured to scale in line with demand and is intended to allow the company to extend lending to a broader base of small businesses across the UK, including those seeking to expand operations, invest in equipment, or pursue growth opportunities.
The agreement follows a period of expansion in iwoca's lending activity. The number of SMEs the company has funded in the UK since 2012 rose from 60.000 in 2024 to 96.000. In 2025, iwoca issued 58,000 loans with a combined value of more than GBP 1.3 billion, representing a 60% increase in lending value compared with 2024.
Over the past two years, iwoca has completed several debt funding rounds to support this growth in demand, with previous backers including Lloyds, Citi, Barclays, Värde Partners, Pollen Street Capital, and Insight Investment. The new GBP 250 million facility adds to this funding base and follows the same pattern of institutional debt financing used to support the company's lending book.
Shifting demand for mid-sized loans
Data from iwoca's SME Expert Index points to a rise in demand for larger loan sizes among UK small businesses. Loans of between GBP 50.000 and GBP 100.000 accounted for 42% of all SME loan applications in the first quarter of 2026, up from 27% in the first quarter of 2025. According to the index, 57% of brokers surveyed expect demand for this loan size to continue rising over the following six months.
This shift suggests that SMEs are seeking larger amounts of working capital or investment finance than in previous years, a trend that has informed the sizing and structure of the new facility.
Romain Guilleminet, Head of Capital Markets, iwoca, said the facility would allow the lender to support more UK businesses, noting that the arrangement builds on existing relationships with institutional funding partners. Moreover, James Cuby, Partner, Head of Europe, Waterfall Asset Management, said the new facility extends the firm's existing funding relationship with iwoca, adding that it is intended to unlock further lending capacity for SMEs that face limited access to finance through traditional lenders. It was also noted that iwoca has maintained consistent growth alongside stable credit performance while expanding its product range.
The facility reflects continued institutional investor interest in SME-focused debt financing in the UK, an area that has attracted a range of banks and asset managers in recent years. As demand for mid-sized loans grows, alternative lenders such as iwoca are positioned to address financing gaps that traditional banks have not fully met, particularly for smaller businesses with variable or non-standard credit profiles.
