Funding Circle has passed the £50 million mark in new lending.

The online marketplace, where people lend money directly to businesses, celebrated is second birthday recently and has lent more than £12 million since the beginning of August.

Laura McMullen, business development director at Funding Circle, said the increase in lending in the past two months showed the importance of alternative funding to provide support to businesses at a time when traditional banking sources seem to be unable to respond positively.

She said: “The primacy of banks as the default funding source for small businesses is waning. We are seeing more professional advisers coming to us as they become aware of new sources of finance that are more responsive to their clients’ needs. It comes as no surprise that Funding Circle’s simple, flexible facility is providing a significant fresh resource for business owners and their advisers.”