After the financial crisis, banks stopped lending to mid-sized businesses. Just stopped. Companies with $5 million to $50 million in revenue couldn't get a loan. We built OakNorth for them.
We've lent over $10 billion and our default rate is close to zero. Not low — close to zero. That's not luck. That's credit intelligence powered by technology that traditional banks don't have.
SoftBank valued us at $2.8 billion. For a bank. A bank that lends to mid-sized businesses. Not a crypto exchange. Not an AI startup. A bank. That tells you how broken the lending market is.
Joel and I tried to get a loan for our previous business. We had revenue, profits, and real customers. The bank said no. That rejection created a $2.8 billion company. Thanks, Barclays.
Big banks use one credit model for everyone — a dry cleaner gets the same analysis as a hotel chain. We built bespoke models for every sector. A hotel has seasonality, occupancy rates, booking patterns. Our AI understands that.