New small business challenger Redwood Bank has launched in the United Kingdom.
The bank will now offer secured SME mortgages to businesses, offering loans between £50,000 and £1.5 million, Redwood announced today. Its launch comes after Redwood received its bank license in April 2017, after filing in 2016 as Acorn Financial Partners.
The bank’s initial focus will be regional, on its home county of Hertfordshire (the bank is based in Letchworth). Redwood will receive a £30 million investment for capital funding for these efforts, approved by the Warrington Borough Council, which has a 33% stake in the bank.
Redwood will be targeting what it’s terming “proptech,” a segment of fintech focused on revamping mortgage lending and the property market.
Its launch and subsequent investment news follows that of Blend, a Silicon Valley-based startup focused on the online mortgage process. Blend, as was recently reported, has secured a $100 million investment from Greylock.