This study of 94 crowdfunding and P2P lending platforms examines the growth, trends and dynamics within the UK alternative finance sector in 2015.

Key findings

• In 2015, the alternative finance market grew to £3.2 billion.
• The market is taking an increasing share of small business lending and start-up investment. Alternative finance business lending is 12% of the market for lending to small businesses in the UK. Equity crowdfunding is 15.6% of total UK seed and venture-stage equity investment.
• The fastest growing models in 2015 were donation-based (grew by 500% since 2014 to £12 million) and equity-based crowdfunding (grew by 295% since 2014 to £332 million).
• The market saw increased involvement from institutional investors: 45% of all platforms reported some level of institutional involvement.
• Real estate is the single most popular sector: the combined debt and equity-based funding for real estate amounted to almost £700 million in 2015.