London-based SME lender iwoca has reported its strongest year on record, disbursing more than £1.5 billion in loans and credit facilities to UK small businesses during the twelve months ending March 2025. The company, which uses automated underwriting powered by real-time accounting and banking data, said it approved over 40,000 individual credit applications during the period, with an average loan size of approximately £37,500 and approval times averaging under four hours.

Co-founder and CEO Christoph Rieche attributed the growth to a structural shift in how small businesses access finance. "We are seeing a permanent migration away from traditional bank lending," Rieche told the Financial Times. "Business owners no longer want to wait weeks for a decision or fill out reams of paperwork. They expect the same seamless experience they get in consumer finance." iwoca's Flexi-Loan product, which allows businesses to draw down and repay flexibly, now accounts for 60 per cent of its total lending volume.

The results position iwoca as one of the UK's largest non-bank SME lenders alongside Funding Circle and OakNorth. The company, which has raised over £400 million in equity and debt funding to date, is now exploring expansion into embedded lending partnerships with accounting software providers. Industry body Innovate Finance noted that UK alternative business lending grew 34 per cent in 2024, with the sector now accounting for roughly 12 per cent of all new SME credit origination in the country.