Fintech finance firm Duologi aims for ambitious growth with Paragon Funding
The Structured Lending team at Paragon. (l-r Jamie Pickering, Adam Daniels, Lewis Fitzsimons)
Duologi has revealed ambitious plans to grow its portfolio to £1bn in five years after securing funding from specialist lender Paragon.
The Basingstoke-based company has secured a new facility for £20m from the structured lending team at Paragon, which provides senior secured funding to help other UK-based, non-bank lenders grow their activities.
Duologi plans to expand its customised point-of-sale consumer finance solutions, which use the latest innovative technologies to allow customers to spread the cost of goods and services. It is particularly prominent in the estate agency services sector, as well as the healthcare sector, providing finance for IVF treatment, and loans for mobility scooters, furniture and online learning training courses. Duologi has attracted interest from a number of large online retailers who see the advantages of its innovative financing solutions, technology and analytical capabilities.
Supported by Oaktree Capital, the company is registered under the name Specialist Lending Limited but trades as Duologi. It started lending in November last year and now has 33 staff and a loan portfolio of £40m.
James Irvine, compliance and strategic projects director at Duologi, said: “We have ambitions to grow the company and have a £1bn portfolio in five years, so this facility from Paragon is an important step in working towards that goal.
“This is the first structured facility we have taken out and Paragon’s structured lending team has been very supportive in working out a deal that suits our ambitions.”
Jamie Pickering, a director in the structured lending team at Paragon said: “Paragon prides itself on using its specialist knowledge to support businesses to grow and achieve their ambitions including a speciality lender like Duologi. It is a relatively young company with a lot of aspirations to expand its business and using our expertise, we were able to create its first facility for £20m.”
Paragon’s structured lending team is one of the banking group’s newest divisions. Previous deals include with SME lender Liberis – as part of an overall £57.5m funding package to support UK small businesses and protect an estimated 100,000 jobs by 2020 – and providing £15m of funding to fintech firm PayBreak to grow its activities.
