Team size: Six

Did the pandemic lead to a lasting increase in the interaction your legal team has with the strategic plans of the company?

Close collaboration across all teams has always been at the heart of our work at Funding Circle, and key to our success over the last ten years has been building a machine learning and technology platform which can revolutionise how small businesses access finance.

The Covid-19 pandemic presented a unique challenge that required our business to react swiftly, and we were in an excellent position to do so thanks to these existing solid relationships.

Particularly, the opportunity to participate in the UK Government’s financial support programmes required significant input from the legal team in helping the business efficiently and effectively assess the implications of that opportunity for our platform.

In addition, the legal department worked closely with the Funding Circle leadership team through the accreditation process with the British Business Bank.

In general, what would you like to see change about the external law firms you use? 

More creative approaches to reducing the cost burden of external counsel–we do not often see law firms focusing on the efficiency of their legal work or delivery of services.

It would also be great to see law firms adopting more technology solutions, even simple ones, to drive that efficiency. For example, in our transactions-based work, it took Covid to finally drive widespread adoption of electronic signatures, whereas that mode of signing was commonplace in commercial contracts for many years.

The unusual business environment created by the pandemic has been swiftly followed by the Ukraine crisis, and attendant supply chain costs rising and increasing inflation. Are you now putting more emphasis on preparing for the unforeseen and, if so, what does this entail?

The Covid-19 pandemic required Funding Circle to swiftly pivot its operations, utilising its market-leading technology and resource to gain accreditation under the Government lending schemes so that we could lend to SMEs when our customers needed it most. Supporting the Funding Circle to achieve this goal is something that we, as a legal team, are proud of.

The Funding Circle’s ability to react quickly to market conditions further validates the importance of the financial technology sector making financial services more accessible. Our medium-term plan is focused on empowering small businesses not only to borrow but pay and spend as well. Despite the economic uncertainty caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine and rising inflation rates, we have remained true to our medium-term goals and our mission to help small businesses win.

Our authentic mission, combined with cross-team collaboration, clear communication and investment, has been key to our success.