Growth Street's board has taken the decision to wind-down the business, after the "unprecedented impact" of the Coronavirus proved too much.

The marketplace lender initiated a resolution event with the aim of ceasing business activities and winding down operations. "We will not be conducting any further lending activities, or accepting any new investors or deposits from existing investors," read a statement.

In October 2019, prior to the outbreak of COVID-19, Growth Street began to re-evaluate the concentration of its loan book by both loan facility sizes and industry segmentation. Since then, it claims to have made "significant progress" in managing down and off-boarding borrowers that no longer fit its improved credit risk and industry concentration appetite.

In December, the startup's founder Greg Carter stepped down from his chief executive position to take an advisory role, while operations director Kim Goetzke was promoted to chief operating officer, assuming day-to-day responsibilities on an interim basis.

Goetzke commented: “Our decision to initiate a liquidity event has not been taken lightly, and we recognise the frustration and concern that many of our investors and borrowers will be feeling.

"Though this decision was difficult, we are confident that it is the right decision to protect both our investors and our SME borrowers across the country," he continued, adding: “In order to ensure the stability of our portfolio, we are constantly and diligently monitoring the risk exposure of every single business on our loan book with our industry-leading credit assessment technology."

Its most recent accounts reported losses increasing to £1.86 million at the end of 2019.

Since launch in 2014, the platform has seen over £500 million worth of investor funds pass through, with over £17 million of institutional investment raised to back the company.
For now, a core team will remain at Growth Street to complete the resolution event and wind down the remaining business.

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