Lovey Secures £250m Credit Facility from Pollen Street Capital to Boost UK SME Lending

Lovey, a UK fintech specializing in SME lending, has secured a senior secured credit facility of up to £250 million from Pollen Street Capital. This significant capital injection, the largest in Lovey’s history, signals a major shift as the firm scales its direct lending capabilities alongside its established brokerage model to meet the credit needs of 11,000 UK businesses.

What was announced

The £250 million facility represents a pivotal moment for Lovey, providing the capital necessary to transition from a broker-heavy model to a significant direct lender. The arrangement consists of a £50 million committed portion and a £200 million accordion, allowing for flexible scaling as demand dictates. This follows a period of rapid growth for the firm, which has expanded from a solo start-up in 2016 to a team of 120 professionals. To date, the company has facilitated over £600 million in loans for more than 11,000 UK small and medium-sized enterprises.

While Lovey began its journey as a brokerage, it moved into balance-sheet lending in 2022. This hybrid approach—combining direct lending with a panel of external funding partners—is designed to ensure SMEs can access the most suitable financial products with greater speed. The new capital from Pollen Street Capital complements Lovey’s existing financial structure, which includes a £35 million revolving credit facility from Paragon Bank and a £10 million junior medium-term note programme from LGB Capital Markets. By deepening its own-book capacity, Lovey aims to offer larger loan sizes and provide more certainty to businesses that have traditionally struggled to secure finance from high-street lenders.

"This new facility is an important milestone for us and will enable us to put more capital behind UK small businesses, scale our own-book lending and give more SMEs access to finance when they need it. Pollen Street shares our belief that finances for small businesses should be simpler, faster and more flexible, and we’re really pleased to have them backing Lovey for this next stage of growth."

Jack Smith, Founder and CEO at Lovey.

The companies involved

Lovey has established itself as a fast-growing player in the UK’s specialist finance sector. Since its inception in 2016, the firm has focused on streamlining the SME lending process, moving from a pure brokerage model to a hybrid entity that manages its own balance sheet. This evolution allows the company to maintain a dual role in the market: acting as a bridge to other lenders while simultaneously deploying its own capital to fill credit gaps. The firm has scaled its operations significantly, now employing over 100 staff to manage its growing loan book and brokerage panel.

Pollen Street Capital, the provider of the new facility, is a prominent alternative asset manager with a deep track record in the financial services and technology sectors. The firm frequently backs specialist lenders and fintech platforms that demonstrate a clear path from brokerage to principal lending. Pollen Street’s influence in the broader fintech ecosystem is significant; the firm has been active in major sector moves, including high-profile acquisitions within the banking technology space. With a focus on capital-efficient, technology-led businesses, Pollen Street’s partnership with Lovey reinforces its strategy of financing credit providers that serve the underserved segments of the UK economy.

What FF News has reported before

FF News has closely tracked the development of both Lovey and Pollen Street Capital. We previously covered how Lovey Integrates Funding Circle’s API to Increase Customer Efficiency, a move that highlighted the firm’s commitment to using technology to streamline the application process for SMEs. On the investment side, we reported on the significant market move where Pollen Street Capital to Acquire Universal Banking from Finastra, demonstrating the asset manager’s appetite for core financial infrastructure. Additionally, our coverage of the wider specialist lending market includes reports on firms like Pivotal, which recently saw Pivotal Outpaces Market with 121% Second Charge Growth and 10,000 Trustpilot Reviews, illustrating the high-growth environment in which Lovey operates.

What this means

This announcement highlights a growing trend of "broker-to-lender" evolution within the fintech space. By securing a facility of this magnitude, Lovey is putting pressure on traditional high-street banks that have historically pulled back from SME credit. The shift to own-book lending is a high-stakes move; while it offers better margins and more control over the customer experience, it also exposes the firm to greater credit risk in a fluctuating economic climate. For the wider industry, this deal raises questions about the sustainability of pure-play brokerages. As more intermediaries seek to capture the full value chain by becoming lenders themselves, the competition for institutional capital will only intensify.