OakNorth Boosts Funding for Gold Funding Ltd to Accelerate Bridging Lending Growth

OakNorth has expanded its existing debt facility for Gold Funding Ltd to bolster the specialist lender’s bridging finance operations across London and the M25. The move provides the family-run firm with additional capital to meet rising demand for short-term property loans, specifically targeting residential assets, buy-to-let properties, and houses in multiple occupation (HMOs).

What was announced

Gold Funding Ltd, which has completed approximately 1,500 lending transactions since its inception in 2009, will use the increased commitment to diversify its funding arrangements and support a growing pipeline of new lending opportunities. The business focuses primarily on the London and M25 regions, providing bridging finance for residential assets and selective mixed-use properties. This latest transaction builds upon an initial facility provided by OakNorth in May 2026. That original agreement was structured to refinance existing funding lines and establish a foundation for the firm’s expansion.

The increased facility is designed to offer greater scalability, allowing Gold Funding to provide faster and more flexible financing to property investors and developers. Led by Arye Grossnass and Shalom Gold, the firm leverages decades of experience in real estate investment and finance to navigate the specialist bridging market. The deal underscores a strategy of using bespoke funding structures to support established specialist lenders who require high-speed execution to remain competitive in the short-term property finance sector. By increasing the facility, the lender aims to capitalise on current market opportunities while maintaining its focus on dependable and flexible lending solutions for its customer base.

"Since partnering with OakNorth earlier this year, we've been extremely impressed by the team's understanding of our business and the specialist bridging finance market. Their ability to deliver a bespoke funding solution that reflects our ambitions has been instrumental in helping us strengthen our funding platform and continue supporting our customers. This latest increase is a natural next step in our relationship and provides us with additional capacity to capitalise on the opportunities we're seeing across the market. As a business, we remain focused on providing our customers with fast, dependable and flexible lending solutions, and having a funding partner like OakNorth, which shares our commercial mindset and commitment to execution, is invaluable as we continue to grow and scale."

Arye Grossnass, Director of Gold Funding Ltd.

The companies involved

OakNorth is a UK-based digital bank specifically designed to serve the "missing middle"—entrepreneurs and growth businesses that are often underserved by traditional high-street lenders. Since its launch, it has positioned itself as a major player in the debt finance space, using a data-driven approach to credit analysis to provide bespoke lending solutions. The bank has a significant presence in the UK fintech ecosystem, frequently providing debt facilities for acquisitions, property developments, and business expansions.

Gold Funding Ltd is a specialist, family-run lender based in London. Unlike larger institutional lenders, Gold Funding operates as a niche player in the short-term finance market, focusing on the geographical corridor of London and the M25. The firm has built its reputation on its ability to handle complex residential and mixed-use transactions that require a deep understanding of local property dynamics. The leadership team, including Directors Arye Grossnass and Shalom Gold, brings a background in real estate investment to the lending side of the business, allowing them to assess risk and opportunity in the buy-to-let and HMO sectors with a high degree of specificity.

What FF News has reported before

OakNorth has been a frequent subject of coverage, with 54 previous reports detailing its expansion into various sectors of the UK economy. Recently, FF News reported that Chester Rose Secures £4.9m OakNorth Facility to Acquire Bespoke IFA, demonstrating the bank’s activity in the professional services acquisition space. In the real estate sector, the bank also OakNorth Refinances Gaw Capital Partners' Landmark Old Street Property, highlighting its capacity for large-scale urban refinancing. Beyond direct lending, the bank has enhanced its technological capabilities through a partnership with the Wise Platform to Accelerate International Payments for UK SMEs, reflecting its evolution from a pure-play lender into a broader digital banking ecosystem for business owners.

What this means

This expansion highlights the growing importance of "lender finance" as a critical sub-sector within fintech. By acting as a wholesaler of capital to specialist firms like Gold Funding, OakNorth is effectively outsourcing the granular risk assessment of local property markets to experts while maintaining its own growth trajectory. This move puts pressure on traditional clearing banks, which often lack the agility to provide bespoke facilities for smaller, family-run specialist lenders. It also suggests that despite broader economic headwinds, the demand for bridging finance in the London residential market remains robust. The challenge for the sector now lies in maintaining credit quality as these specialist platforms scale rapidly using institutional-grade capital.