ALTHOUGH we still tend to think of peer-to-peer lending as a young sector, it is now 13 years since Zopa became the first lender in the market. It was joined five years later by Funding Circle and RateSetter and since then the big three have dominated the P2P market. Here are some of the key moments in their journeys. March 2005 Zopa is launched in the UK after being founded the previous year by a team which included the creators of internet bank Egg. August 2010 After receiving £2.5m in funding from venture capital firm Index Ventures, the Funding Circle platform begins trading in the UK. October 2010 Investment banker Rhydian Lewis and lawyer-turned banker Peter Behrens launch RateSetter, which is pitched as the first P2P platform with a ‘Provision Fund’ to help manage the risk of borrower default.

http://www.p2pfinancenews.co.uk/2018/06/15/big-three-p2p/