Fintech firm, Growth Capital Ventures (GCV) secured £1.1 million from private equity house, Maven Capital Partners’ managed venture capital trusts. GCV is known to develop and run specialist online investment and capital crowdfunding platforms, connecting entrepreneurs and earlier-stage businesses to investors.

With this investment, GCV aims to add a new peer-to-peer lending platform to its model, according to the company’s co-founder, Norman Peterson. “We will evolve the platform to offer investment opportunities in property and clean energy projects that provide access to asset backed investment opportunities where value can be added through development and/or active asset management,” he said.

Bill Kennedy, partner at Maven, sees the alternative finance sector as an increasingly mainstream asset class, which is why the PE house decided to support the firm’s further development of its highly sophisticated investment platform. “(The platform) has been uniquely designed to connect investors with opportunities across the real estate, technology and clean energy sectors. The management team is highly experienced and we have every confidence in its ability to source deals and raise capital for thoroughly vetted businesses and projects that deliver impact and growth,” he said.

GCV launched its first crowdfunding platform, GrowthFunders, in 2014. Since then, the appeal of alternative finance has grown exponentially, and as co-founder and COO Craig Peterson summed up, the sector has a valuable part to play in stimulating economic growth and innovation in the UK. “Equity and lending based platforms have seen an increase in co-investment from institutional investors, a trend we believe will increase significantly in the coming years. Our online investors are keen to participate alongside specialist institutional investors to support businesses and projects that have the potential to make a difference precisely because they are tackling problems in underserved markets.”

Peterson added that the real opportunities lie in the largely untapped real estate sector, which is why GCV is working with experienced residential and commercial property developers to provide funding solutions to develop low carbon housing, office space and student accommodation in underserved markets. “The schemes will deliver positive social, economic and environmental benefits including job creation, training opportunities and reduced energy consumption.”

Today’s transaction in GCV represents Maven’s fourth venture capital trust investment this year and its tenth private equity transaction of 2016.