The funding will enable OakNorth to launch its SME loan origination and credit capabilities to North American banks and lending institutions.

OakNorth aims to unlock billions of dollars of funding for America’s fast-growth SMEs, creating new jobs and homes in the process.

It also plans to continue driving the growth of its analytical intelligence (ON AI) platform, which is already being used by banks across the US, Europe and Asia.

The funding takes OakNorth Holdings’ total primary and secondary funding to over $1bn.

Rishi Khosla, co-founder at OakNorth Holdings (pictured above), said: “With this finance from SoftBank and follow-on investment from Clermont, we will be able to continue scaling the group’s operations globally.

“If you’re a lender who wants to get serious about commercial lending to small- and medium-size growth businesses, we can help you originate and underwrite deals faster and more efficiently, as well as maintain a clearer view of how each business in your portfolio is performing.

“If you’re a growth business in either the UK or the US, we can help you by providing you with a customised debt finance solution that will enable you to achieve your growth ambitions.

“We have a relentless focus on helping small- and medium-sized businesses across the world that are in growth mode access better financing to fund their development.

“These businesses are the backbone of economies and communities, as evidenced by the thousands of new homes and jobs created from the loans we’ve done so far.”

Munish Varma, partner at SoftBank Investment Advisers, added: “OakNorth is delivering a highly differentiated service to a key segment of the market that has historically been underserved by commercial banks.

“The company has a clear and ambitious vision to scale globally and we are excited to work with them to achieve this goal.”

The investment is subject to standard closing conditions and regulatory approval.