Salad, the UK’s largest consumer lending Community Development Finance Institution (CDFI), has raised a further £860k in our fifth retail bond offer from 329 investors through Ethex, the impact investing platform, with 65% repeat investors. Across our five bond issuances, retail investors have committed £4.3 million to support Salad, the largest cumulative raise of any CDFI on the platform.
The raise will help Salad in our critical role to unlock access to mainstream credit for ‘credit invisible’ UK workers, individuals in stable work who are turned down by traditional lenders due to thin or invisible credit records. Through our use of Open Banking and analysis of billions of transactions to assess an applicant’s current financial behaviour, Salad lends up to £2,000 over six to twenty-four months with funds typically available within two hours, providing a lifeline as household finances are increasingly stretched.
This milestone comes as financial inclusion climbs the political agenda, with Prime Minister Andy Burnham making several commitments to tackle the cost-of-living crisis in his first few weeks of office, including removing VAT from domestic electricity bills. Around one in three UK adults have difficulty accessing affordable credit from mainstream lenders, rising by 50% since 2016, and debt charity StepChange recently revealed that over half (51%) have struggled with debt.
Craig Pennington, CEO of Salad Finance, said:
“I’m delighted that so many retail investors seeking both social and financial returns have backed Salad’s bond and we have exceeded our target, well before the closing date. Every pound will go into affordable and ethical lending.
“Traditional credit scoring systems are flawed and often exclude people with stable employment, including NHS and other public sector staff, based on outdated criteria or because of ‘thin’ credit files (no or low credit score). We can lend to people that mainstream credit simply rejects, helping people who want and can afford a loan to access fair credit and build their financial resilience. Our bond will remain open until the 8th October to enable us to raise towards our maximum target of over £1 million, and every extra investment means more workers will be able to benefit from affordable credit and avoid higher-cost lenders.”
Alan Campbell, Founder of Salad, said:
“Millions of Brits struggle to access the right type of credit, and despite Government efforts to tackle this, including the UK Financial Inclusion Strategy, this gap is only set to widen. This raise shows retail investors are ready to back the solution and help break the cycle of financial hardship for those locked out of mainstream credit. I’m delighted to see so many returning investors, backing this Ethex raise and helping Salad continue our mission of reducing financial exclusion across the UK.”
Salad reinvests 50% of its profits back into product design and, earlier this year, we received a King’s Award for Enterprise for our innovation in developing our own technology to improve financial inclusion. Our bond offer closes on 8 October 2026 and is available here.
