LendingMetrics, the Hampshire-based credit risk tech firm, has received a significant investment from private equity group LDC to help scale its presence in the UK's fast-growing decisioning software and data market.
It will also allow the Fareham-based fintech, founded in 2010, to explore acquisitions and diversify its footprint in new vertical industries with similar credit risk challenges, such as telecoms, utilities and insurance.
The company's cloud-based products include Auto Decision Platform (ADP), LendingMetrics Exchange (LMX), a proprietary multi-bureau credit referencing product, OpenBankVision (OBV), a bank statement data platform, and DeeJoop, a proprietary credit data deduplication tool to standardise high velocity multi-bureau credit files.
Neil Williams, CEO of LendingMetrics, said: "We’re extremely proud of what we’ve achieved in the last 14 years, the fantastic team we have built and of the great partnership we have fostered with many clients and partners who have been part of our journey so far.
"With the support of LDC we can invest for further growth, especially in our R&D team."
He added: "LDC’s track record in backing technology businesses speaks for itself, but it was the LDC team’s approach to the investment that made the difference.
"They’re already providing the kind of strategic input we expected from an experienced investment partner, but they back us as a team to lead the business and pursue our own vision and ambition."
Oliver Schofield, investment director at LDC, added: "Neil, David and the wider LendingMetrics team have built a highly sophisticated and disruptive technology stack that is at the cutting edge of credit risk technology and has made the business a critical, trusted partner to their clients.
"We’re excited to be backing the team and helping them to scale in what is a fast-growing and rapidly evolving market."
The transaction was led by LDC investment director Oliver Schofield, investment manager Vera Kuehne and partner and head of South West and Wales Dewi Hughes.
LendingMetrics was advised by Sequence Advisers (corporate finance) and RWK Goodman (legal).
LDC was advised by FRP Corporate Finance (corporate finance), Womble Bond Dickinson (legal), BDO (financial and tax due diligence), Armstrong (commercial due diligence), Coppett Hill (sales due diligence), Alvarez & Marsal (tech due diligence) and Aon (insurance due diligence).
The deal is subject to FCA approval.
