Samir Desai co-founded and is CEO of Funding Circle which launched in 2010. Funding Circle is a global lending platform where investors lend directly to small businesses in the UK, US, Germany and the Netherlands. Funding Circle has originated £3 billion + of loans to 40,000+ businesses creating an estimated 100,000 jobs. Investors on the platform include 72,000 individuals, institutional investors, local councils, universities, and government organisations including the British Business Bank, KFW (German state development bank) and the European Investment Bank.

Samir is responsible for driving the company’s strategy, and overseeing Funding Circle operations globally. Funding Circle is one of the best capitalised platforms globally, having raised ~ £250 million from some of the worlds largest investors. Samir was previously a consultant at BCG and an investment executive at Olivant focused on financial services businesses. In 2015, Samir was awarded a CBE for services to financial services.