iwoca, one of Europe’s largest business lenders, has confirmed this morning that it’s to open a new office in Leeds.
It plans to employ up to 100 people in the city by 2023, including developers, customer support officers and relationship managers.
“Leeds has a strong heritage in financial services and banking, but we wanted to play a major role in the city’s Fintech evolution,” said Seema Desai, iwoca’s Chief Operating Officer.
“We looked at several cities and Leeds stood out as a natural second home from where we could support even more small businesses across the UK. We were particularly impressed with the size and quality of Leeds’ talent pool, its strong and improving infrastructure, as well as the city’s own distinctive culture and soul. But, we remain at the start of our journey – our aim is to fund one million small businesses so we need smart, hands-on people to help us reach this goal.”
The first office is due to open early in the new year.
iwoca received support from the Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership (LEP) Trade and Investment team and the Department of International Trade throughout its decision-making process.
“It’s great to welcome iwoca, one of Europe’s largest Fintechs, to Leeds City Region following a national selection exercise,” added Roger Marsh Chair of Leeds LEP.
“The region is the second centre for banking in the UK employing over 28,500 and home to over 30 national and international banks which provides a very favourable ecosystem for Fintechs to thrive. This coupled with a pipeline bursting with talent and a supportive business environment, ensures that the region is an attractive place for global fintech companies to invest and grow.”
iwoca currently employs 300 people, with the majority based in London. Earlier this year, it secured a £10 million grant through the Capability and Innovation Fund1 with the aim of helping businesses improve lending or payment services to SMEs across the UK. As part of this win, it committed to opening a regional office, to better serve its UK customer base.
