LendInvest has secured £150 million of initial funding from investment bank Nomur and alternative investment manager Magnetar.

It will use the funding for residential development finance.

Nomura and Magnetar now join a broad range of institutional investors investing in LendInvest’s secured property loans, including Merseyside Pension Fund, a UK listed fund manager, Citigroup and a number of other banks which include a UK challenger bank. This funding brings LendInvest’s total capital for lending to approximately £1 billion.

Christian Faes (pictured), co-founder & CEO of LendInvest, said: “LendInvest continues to attract investment from some of the largest and most sophisticated investors globally to our platform. Development finance is a key product for us as it complements our dominant position in short-term mortgages, and our expanding Buy-to-Let product, further establishing LendInvest as the ‘one-stop-shop’ for property entrepreneurs.

“This funding joint venture with Nomura and Magnetar will allow us to continue to grow our development finance product, and to provide much needed funding for SME house-builders across the country.”

Aidan McKeown, who headed the London-based deal team at Magnetar Capital, added: “We are delighted to partner with LendInvest and their experienced team as they continue to build a robust and agile lending platform that supports SME housebuilders across the UK. We look forward to our partnership which will help LendInvest to grow its programme.”

Roger Cattermole, managing director at Nomura, said: “We are pleased to be working with LendInvest in order to boost its access to finance for developers. Nomura’s participation in this joint venture demonstrates our commitment to providing SMEs and property entrepreneurs with access to funding in an evolving UK residential property market in order to help grow businesses and ultimately support housing supply.”