The Somo Story.
We’re Somo. An award-winning specialist UK bridging and business lender that has grown from a family-run venture into one of the most trusted names in property-backed finance, lending half-a-billion-pounds safely and successfully since 2014.
We were founded in the UK’s second capital, Manchester, beginning life as one of the UK’s earliest crowd-funded bridging platforms, with a bold vision to use technology and an investor-driven funding model to make bridging loans safer, faster and more accessible, a fair, flexible alternative to traditional banks. We have since evolved into an award-winning lender with a national reputation over the last 11 years, lending nearly half a billion pounds.
Our disciplined “slow and steady wins the race” approach has earned industry recognition, including being rated the No.1 peer-to-peer platform for financial health by financial research and ratings agency, 4thWay.co.uk and winning multiple awards including Bridging and Commercial’s Best Regional Bridging Lender. More telling still is the loyalty of brokers and borrowers, many of whom return again and again to what we proudly call The Somo Family.
Today, Somo stands as proof that strong ethics, technology and innovation blended with a people-first culture, can deliver long-term success. With over a decade of experience, hundreds of millions lent and zero investor losses, Somo’s journey reflects a rare combination of growth, trust and integrity in UK bridging finance.
Why make finance difficult?
At Somo, we believe finance shouldn’t be difficult. That’s why we’ve built our entire business around one simple mission: making life and lending easier and more accessible for our brokers. In a world where traditional lending is often slow, rigid and full of red tape and paperwork, we do things differently.
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Somo exists to say “Yes” where others say “No”.
We look at every case from every angle - it’s what we call our 360Promise. We don’t just tick boxes; we take time to understand the deal and the people behind it and where other lenders find reasons to say “no”, we find ways to say “yes”.
It’s our mission to change the way people see bridging - not as a last resort, but as a smart, flexible solution for all kinds of borrowers, from landlords to business owners, from seasoned property professionals to first-time investors, those with a clean credit history to those with less than perfect credit, we’ll look to lend. We’re on a mission to make finding the right bridging loan as normal as applying for a loan from a high street bank, but much, much easier.
Whether it’s a first, second, third or equitable charge loan, business borrowing or borrowing with bad credit, we’re set up to say yes - fast. We lend for any business purpose, from expansion to investment to asset purchases, tax bills, wage bills and stock bills, funding a management buyout to refurbishing a property - we even have specialist products to provide breathing space to get a business back on track or repair credit.
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Somo understands that real, successful businesses don’t always tick every box.
Over a decade of doing things differently.
Innovation has always been central to our approach. In 2016, it became the first UK bridging lender to use open banking technology to combat identity fraud, building on its culture of rigorous due diligence designed to protect both investors and borrowers.
Growth followed quickly and consistently. Within a year of launch, Somo had lent £10 million. By 2017 this reached £50 million, rising to over £100 million by 2019 and as lending volumes increased, so did the business itself: new hires, larger premises, multi-million-pound facilities and a steadily expanding senior team.
By late 2020, Somo had grown from a two-person family operation into a business of more than 50 people. That same year marked a major milestone, with Deutsche Bank providing a £300 million funding line, a powerful endorsement of our model and track record.
Even through the challenges of Covid-19, Somo continued lending, investing in our platform and launching a refreshed brand in 2021. By mid-2023, cumulative lending exceeded £350 million across more than 1,500 loans and just a year later we marked ten years in business.
Our disciplined, long-term approach, built on steady, sustainable growth rather than short-term gains, has earned consistent industry recognition. We’ve been rated the No.1 peer-to-peer platform for financial health by 4thWay and recognised with multiple awards, including Bridging & Commercial’s Best Regional Bridging Lender in 2025.
But the strongest endorsement comes from the brokers and borrowers who return to us time and again, relationships that have grown into what we proudly call The Somo Family.
And in 2026, our journey reaches another defining milestone: half a billion pounds lent alongside a continued programme of product innovation and new launches designed to keep raising the bar in specialist property finance.
We've built our business around one simple belief: finance shouldn’t be difficult and one mission - making lending faster, more flexible and easier for our brokers.