UK P2P Lender Zopa Nets $303M

United Kingdom-based peer-to-peer (P2P) lender Zopa has generated just shy of $304 million in its latest fundraising effort, according to a blog post on the company’s website on Monday (Oct. 18). Led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2, with contributions from Silverstripe, Northzone and Augmentum, the most recent funding drive will bolster the company’s goal of assisting more U.K. customers in improving their finances and offering easier access to borrowing and saving products, per the announcement.

The 220 million-pound haul is the 16-year-old company’s largest fundraise to date. It has pushed Zopa’s valuation to $1 billion, according to a report from Yahoo! Finance. Zopa says it is on track to reach profitability within the next 10 weeks.

See also: Zopa Secures UK Banking License

The move to profitability is anticipated within 18 months after Zopa received its bank license in June 2020, formally launching Zopa Bank. As PYMNTS reported at the time, the bank license allowed the lender to begin offering savings accounts and credit cards in addition to auto and personal loans.

Since its inception, Zopa has lent more than $8 billion to its more than 500,000 customers in the U.K., according to the company announcement.

The company’s recent growth is leading up to its initial public offering (IPO), which could happen in the fourth quarter of 2022, according to Yahoo! Finance.

Related news: Zopa P2P Lender to Land 12th-Hour Investment to Become Bank

Prior to receiving its bank license, Zopa, in December 2019, raised the required $1.67 million investment needed to become a challenger bank, as PYMNTS reported. The 12th-hour cash infusion came a year after Zopa in 2018 became the first P2P lender to receive a conditional banking license issued by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). At the time, the online bank had plans to offer a fixed-term savings product, credit card and money management app.

Zopa had initially applied for the banking license in 2016.