On 26 May, we are running a round table discussion over lunch for some members of our Alternative Funding Network (AFN), courtesy of our new AFN sponsors, Fox Williams. The theme of the lunch is the “business outlook” for the Alternative Funders themselves. I am speaking to each of the 16 attendees (mostly heads of “Alternative” funders) in advance of the lunch, so that we can develop the agenda. During more than one conversation, I’ve been told how much some would like to see the back of the word “Alternative”! It’s an interesting point, not to mention a challenge for re-branding the AFN!

Available data (courtesy of AltiFi) suggests that “Alternative Funders” have now raised £243m of equity for SMEs and a whopping £6.5Billion of debt (much recycled or repaid of course). These aren’t small numbers anymore, so perhaps we need to see these providers as more mainstream (while different, of course). I just hope that Alternative Funders don’t become boring, less inventive and less nimble however – they represent a whole pool of testing and learning that I think continues to push the whole finance sector in to a better place for small and growing businesses.

While on the issue of numbers, AltFi show that some 85% of ALL P2P and crowd funding in Europe is transacted in the UK (and my guess is over half of that will be in ). I’m not sure what that means for Brexit, but I do know that we should be proud of what the Alternative Finance and Fintech sectors are achieving here.

For more information about the round table seminar, please go to our event page HERE.