Unbolted is a UK based online personal asset-based

peer-to-peer lending Peer-to-peer lending, also abbreviated as P2P lending, is the practice of lending money to individuals or businesses through online services that match lenders with borrowers. Peer-to-peer lending companies often offer their services online, and ...

platform, where individuals can borrow from other individuals by using high value personal assets such as luxury watches, cars, fine arts,

antiques An antique ( la, antiquus; 'old', 'ancient') is an item perceived as having value because of its aesthetic or historical significance, and often defined as at least 100 years old (or some other limit), although the term is often used loosely ...

jewellery Jewellery ( UK) or jewelry (U.S.) consists of decorative items worn for personal adornment, such as brooches, rings, necklaces, earrings, pendants, bracelets, and cufflinks. Jewellery may be attached to the body or the clothes. From a wester ...

and commodities such as gold. The company started trading in November 2014 and has its offices in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

History

Unbolted was set up by Ashwin Parmeswaran and Rito Haldar with an aim to make short-term borrowing transparent, affordable and convenient for consumers and

small business Small businesses are types of corporations, partnerships, or sole proprietorships which have fewer employees and/or less annual revenue than a regular-sized business or corporation. Businesses are defined as "small" in terms of being able to ap ...

owners, by using their high-value personal assets to access low-cost

loans In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that de ...

. It raised

seed funding Seed money, sometimes known as seed funding or seed capital, is a form of securities offering in which an investor invests capital in a startup company in exchange for an equity stake or convertible note stake in the company. The term ''seed'' su ...

in July 2014 prior to its public launch in November 2014. Unbolted offers short-term loans of various types: * 'Buy now, pay later' loans which allow auction participants at various partner sites (such as Forum Auctions) to bid on items without having the upfront cash. * Sale advance loans, which allow vendors to receive up to half of their auction reserve before the auction takes place. * Personal asset bridge loans and working capital loans offered to watch dealers. Unbolted previously offered 'Gold Trust' loans, which helped to protect lenders from gold price volatility. When issuing these loans, Unbolted used to purchase exchange-traded derivatives (ETF put options) that paid off in the event that gold prices fell. When new FCA regulations came into place in December 2019, Unbolted ended Gold Trust protection for any new gold/precious metal loans.

References

Peer-to-peer lending companies British companies established in 2013 Financial services companies established in 2013 Retail companies established in 2013 Internet properties established in 2013 Pawn shops {{UK-finance-company-stub