Lendwise
Lendwise is a UK FCA-regulated peer-to-peer lending marketplace that funds postgraduate students and professional qualification candidates through loans supplied by individual retail lenders, including via an IFISA wrapper, earning revenue from the interest spread and servicing fees.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2018
- HeadquartersLondon, United Kingdom
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingServices
What Lendwise does
Lendwise Ltd is a UK-based, FCA-regulated peer-to-peer lending platform (firm registration number 782496) that connects individual postgraduate students and professional qualification candidates with a pool of retail lenders, intermediating education financing that is underserved by government student loans and traditional bank lending. The platform supports loans ranging from £5,000 to £100,000 across multiple use cases, including postgraduate degrees (MSc, MA, LLM, MBA), professional qualifications (CFA, ACCA, SQE), bootcamps, school fees, parent loans, graduate life loans, and personal loans up to £25,000. Borrower pricing is fixed for the loan term and risk-priced individually, with a representative APR of 12.73% and no early repayment fees.
The platform's core technology includes a proprietary credit assessment framework that evaluates past debt management, borrowing purpose, and future earnings potential, alongside investor-side features such as AutoLend (automated diversification across multiple loans), a Secondary Loan Marketplace for early liquidity, and an Innovative Finance ISA (IFISA) wrapper for tax-efficient retail investment with disclosed target returns of up to 9.0% per annum. The platform is accessible via web and mobile app and operates entirely as a self-service digital channel with no physical branches.
Lendwise earns revenue primarily from the interest rate spread between borrower rates (averaging 12.73% APR) and investor returns (up to 9.0% per annum), supplemented by loan servicing fees deducted from interest repayments. The company is privately held, founded in 2018 (per company history; firmographics data indicates 2016), headquartered in London, and operates with 11–50 employees. Customer acquisition is driven by content marketing, SEO, and organic social channels targeting both prospective borrowers and UK retail investors.
Lendwise firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Lendwise
- Legal name
- Lendwise Ltd
- Website
- https://lendwise.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2018
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Lendwise is a UK FCA-regulated peer-to-peer lending marketplace that funds postgraduate students and professional qualification candidates through loans supplied by individual retail lenders, including via an IFISA wrapper, earning revenue from the interest spread and servicing fees.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Lendwise industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Peer-to-peer education lending
- NAICS
- Mortgage and Nonmortgage Loan Brokers (522310), Nondepository Credit Intermediation (5222)
- SIC
- Loan Brokers (6163)
- akta.pro primary industry
- In-School Tuition & Fee Financing (Short-term/Bridge) (FSAKAEAG)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Student Loan Marketplace Lending (FSAKAHAE), Consumer P2P Personal Loans (Unsecured) (FSAKAHAA)
Keywords
Where Lendwise is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- London
- HQ country
- United Kingdom
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices1 record
Markets served
Lendwise business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Others
Revenue model
- Interest Rate Spread: Lendwise earns revenue from the spread between the interest rates charged to borrowers (average 12.73% APR) and the returns paid to investors (up to 9.0% per year). The platform acts as an intermediary between borrowers seeking education funding and investors seeking fixed-income style returns.
- Loan Servicing Fees: Lendwise deducts loan servicing fees from interest repayments when collecting repayments from borrowers and passing capital and/or interest to lenders.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Other | Pay-as-you-go | Estimated investor returns of up to 9.0% per annum |
| Usage-based | Monthly | Average borrower rate of 12.73% APR |
| One time/ perpetual license | Monthly | Personal loans up to £25,000 |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels1 record
Marketing channels3 records
Lendwise product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Lendwise operates a peer-to-peer lending marketplace that connects postgraduate students and professional qualification candidates seeking education financing with individual UK investors seeking fixed-income style returns. Borrower-side offerings include loans for postgraduate degrees (MSc, MA, LLM), international MBAs, bootcamps, professional qualifications such as CFA, ACCA, and SQE, school fee instalments, and parent loans. Investor-side offerings include IFISA-eligible loan investments, an automated AutoLend diversification tool, and a secondary marketplace for loan resale.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Postgraduate Student Loan (Graduate Degree Loan – MSc, MA, LLM)
Companies that use Lendwise
Customer profileNamed customers5 records
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
Lendwise technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature4 records
Lendwise partnerships and signals
Strategic signalScale indicators2 records
Recent moves5 records
Expansion highlights4 records
Lendwise competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Prodigy Finance: Prodigy Finance is a direct peer: a marketplace-style lender funding international students pursuing postgraduate degrees (especially MBAs) at top global universities. It overlaps directly with Lendwise's International MBA and postgraduate loan products and competes for the same borrower cohort and lender capital.
- Future Finance: Future Finance is a UK-based specialist student and postgraduate loan provider focused on funding tuition and living costs for students who cannot access government loans. It directly competes with Lendwise in the UK postgraduate and career-transition lending market.
Broad incumbents
- Funding Circle: Funding Circle is a large, FCA-regulated UK P2P/marketplace lending platform operating across SME and consumer segments. Although its consumer P2P unit has been wound down, its marketplace infrastructure and IFISA capability make it a broad incumbent in the same regulatory and product space as Lendwise.
- Zopa: Zopa is a UK FCA-regulated peer-to-peer and now digital bank platform with consumer lending and IFISA offerings. It overlaps with Lendwise's P2P marketplace model and competing directly for investor capital allocation within IFISA wrappers.
- SoFi: SoFi is a large US fintech offering student loan refinancing, private student loans, and personal loans. While US-based, it is a comparable education-finance lender with similar product categories (student loans, refi, personal loans) and a similar target borrower persona of postgraduate and professional qualification candidates.
Emerging players
- Earnest: Earnest is a US-based student loan refinancing and personal loan fintech, now owned by Navient. It is comparable to Lendwise's 'Refinance Private Student Loan' and personal loan products, targeting financially responsible graduates seeking competitive fixed rates.
Others
- Student Loans Company: Student Loans Company is the UK government-backed provider of statutory student finance. While not a competitor for private lending, it sets the pricing baseline and coverage ceiling that defines the underserved postgraduate funding gap Lendwise addresses.
Regional players
- Stepstone (formerly Selectra) Income Lender Marketplaces: 4thWay is a UK P2P lending ratings and research site covering education and consumer lending marketplaces. It is adjacent rather than competitive, but operates in the same UK P2P/IFISA investor ecosystem and indirectly influences investor flows to Lendwise.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Lendwise social profiles
Digital presenceLendwise compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance1 record
Lendwise financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Lendwise leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles2 records
Lendwise funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Lendwise M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Lendwise
What does Lendwise do?
Lendwise operates a peer-to-peer lending marketplace that connects postgraduate students and professional qualification candidates seeking education financing with individual UK investors seeking fixed-income style returns. Borrower-side offerings include loans for postgraduate degrees (MSc, MA, LLM), international MBAs, bootcamps, professional qualifications such as CFA, ACCA, and SQE, school fee instalments, and parent loans. Investor-side offerings include IFISA-eligible loan investments, an automated AutoLend diversification tool, and a secondary marketplace for loan resale.
Is Lendwise a public or private company?
Lendwise is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Lendwise founded?
Lendwise was founded in 2018. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Lendwise based?
Lendwise is headquartered in London, United Kingdom, in the Europe region.
How does Lendwise make money?
Two revenue lines are on record. Interest Rate Spread is the primary driver. The others are loan Servicing Fees.
Who are Lendwise's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Prodigy Finance and Future Finance. Broad incumbents are Funding Circle, Zopa and SoFi. Earnest is listed as an emerging player. Student Loans Company is listed as an others. Stepstone (formerly Selectra) Income Lender Marketplaces is listed as a regional player.
Does Lendwise have an API?
No public API is recorded for Lendwise.
What industry is Lendwise in?
Lendwise's product category is Peer-to-peer education lending. Its primary akta.pro industry code is FSAKAEAG, In-School Tuition & Fee Financing (Short-term/Bridge), with a secondary code of FSAKAHAE, Student Loan Marketplace Lending. Its NAICS code is 522310 and its SIC code is 6163.