"There’s a lot of uncertainty in the economy right now, but also a lot of opportunity. "
Jooste spent almost five-year stint as part of the leadership team at Funding Circle, during which time he helped scale the business and prepare it for its £2 billion IPO in September 2018.
Jooste previously held positions as head of UK property finance and commercial director for Barclays Business Bank.
Danny Girnun, managing director of Merchant Money, said: “It was the next logical step. We’ve been investing in resources and infrastructure to help us take the business to the next evolutionary phase of growth, while steadily growing our client base.
“We’re now at the point where we’ve proven to be a profitable business, and we felt it was the right time to bring on board someone with Luke’s extraordinary skills and experience, and track record for taking businesses like ours to the next level.”
Luke Jooste commented: “There’s a lot of uncertainty in the economy right now, but also a lot of opportunity. Every big macro change in the market creates risk, but those risks lead to opportunities – especially for established and forward-thinking UK lenders with the agility to respond to opportunities quickly.
“Merchant Money is a small, agile business that provides ‘fast, flexible funding’ – which is exactly what our customers who are UK SMEs need from their lenders. If we support the right partners in the right way, they win and we win.
“Currently, many of the large and credible players in the UK alternative credit space are those that took advantage of the 2008 credit crunch uncertainty when banks retreated from the market. We see a similar opportunity emerging for smaller players from the current Brexit chaos, and Merchant Money aims to be at the forefront of that.
“Regardless of the wider macro risks, the UK still leads the way worldwide in disruptive financial services and Fintech – and it’s just such an exciting time to be part of a company like this.”
