FINANCE

finance market grew by 144 percent last year to nearly € 3 billion and could exceed € 7 billion in 2015 , the authors estimated . “ Seen until recently as a niche activity , online alternative finance , including equity-based crowdfunding and peer-to-peer business lending , has become a vital and increasingly commonplace source of essential funding for SMEs , start-ups and many other businesses throughout Europe ,” the researchers said .

Online alternative finance , comprising platform based financial transactions outside traditional banking , grew across Europe from € 1.21 billion in 2013 to € 2.96 billion in 2014 . The overall European alternative industry is on track to grow beyond € 7 billion if the market fundamentals remain sound and growth continues apace .

Last year € 201 million of early stage growth and working capital funding was provided to European SMEs and start-ups by alternative finance platforms . The volume of online alternative business funding has been growing steadily at around 75 percent year on year , and the estimated number of start-ups and SMEs funded in this way has been growing at an even faster average rate ; 133 percent over the last three years to around 5,801 SMEs or start-ups in 2014 .

Robert Wardrop , Executive Director of the Centre for Alternative Finance at Cambridge Judge , and co-author of the new report , said : “ These new forms of alternative finance are growing quickly , and this growth is beginning to attract institutional investors . Alternative finance in some European countries is on the

10 April 2015