68. Glenhawk

Founders: Guy Harrington
Founded: 2018
Website: www.glenhawk.com

The short-term lending market is extremely valuable (c. £4.5bn) but plagued with issues, such as high fees, unapproachable lending teams, a lack of transparency, and questionable ‘loan-to-own’ approaches. In 2018, Guy Harrington decided to tackle these problems with a new company: Glenhawk (as featured in Startups 100 2019).

And boy did Glenhawk disrupt the market. The firm prides itself on being an ethical presence within a rather famously unethical industry, determined to combat all the problems that borrowers typically face. Most impressively, in April 2019 Glenhawk became the first bridging lender to launch a free valuation offering, as well as charging zero admin or exit fees.

This friendly approach to the bridging loan market went down a storm. Within 2019, the firm generated over £1.4bn of loan enquiries, and passed £100m of lending. What’s more, massive US bank J.P. Morgan has got involved, pledging to support Glenhawk’s new senior funding line.

If all goes to plan, Glenhawk will enter the homeowner mortgage market this year, and by the end of 2021, the company aims to have a UK loan book worth £200m. This support from J.P. Morgan is a big string to their bow.

Glenhawk is a true champion of transparency and fairness, and we’re all for it.