Orange Money Ltd, which trades as Ezbob in the UK, has purchased Everline, in a move which it claims will create the UK’s largest online commercial lender.
The acquisition of Everline, which has operated almost exclusively as an e-lender directly to SMEs, complements Ezbob’s focus on working through the dynamic UK intermediary sector and brings together the strongest elements of both organisations.
Ezbob and Everline have collectively provided over 5,000 business loans and lent more than £54 million to small businesses since their inception in 2012.
Orange Money Ltd is the first online SME lender to be an approved financial intermediary for the European Investment Fund (EIF), and is also backed by the Government backed Angel Co-Fund.
The expanded company will continue to market to UK SMEs under both the Everline and the Ezbob brands and plans on undertaking a brand review in the coming months. Customers now have access to loans of up to £150,000 for 18 months with funds available in most cases within 24 hours of initial enquiry.
Tomer Guriel, CEO at Orange Money Ltd said: “Collectively we are now the biggest business e-lender in the UK, focused on providing more businesses with the finance they need to fuel and sustain growth. This is an exciting acquisition for us, as it brings together two strong brands in Ezbob and Everline, both of which have proved to be an attractive alternative to short term traditional business finance.
“Our market leading technology platform complements Everline’s well positioned brand – the combination of the two will accelerate our growth, which has already been more than doubling year on year for each brand since launch.”
Orange Money Ltd has also announced the appointment of Russell Gould, former Everline managing director, as its chief operating officer. Gould launched and ran Everline from inception.
Guriel added: “We are delighted to announce that Russell is joining the management team and look forward to working with him to take the sound foundations from both businesses and create an even stronger business for the future.”
