On one hand, the company itself has been growing at a rapid clip. In 2016, some £1.1 billion ($1.3 billion) was lent globally (it has operations in Europe and the U.S.; the U.K., which is now profitable for the company, is its biggest market, Desai said). And of that, £400 million came in Q4 alone, working out to 90 percent year-on-year growth. For some context to understand Funding Circle’s growth in the last year, the company says that the total lent on its platform since being founded in 2010 is £2.5 billion. On the other hand, Funding Circle didn’t actually need the money, but this is a critical time for lending startups, given some of the scandal we’ve seen around some like Lending Club and Wonga.

https://techcrunch.com/2017/01/11/p2p-lending-unicorn-funding-circle-raises-another-100m-led-by-accel/