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OakNorth Bank
OakNorth Bank, led by Rishi Khosla and Joel Perlman, has deployed over £12bn in direct lending to UK growth companies since 2015.
OakNorth Bank
OakNorth was founded in 2015 by Rishi Khosla and Joel Perlman, who previously built and sold financial-data firm Copal Amba to Moody's in 2014. The pair launched the bank to fill a persistent gap in UK commercial lending: creditworthy mid-market growth companies that were too complex for high-street banks but too small for large corporate-debt markets. The firm holds a UK banking license and operates from its London headquarters with additional offices in Manchester and Birmingham. OakNorth deploys capital across senior debt, working-capital facilities, and growth loans, targeting sectors including technology, healthcare, professional services, and property development. Since inception, the bank has lent over £12 billion to UK businesses (per the firm, 2024). Its loan book includes property developers and scaling tech companies, while the management team has publicly cited portfolio commitments to sectors like energy transition and digital infrastructure. The firm combines a direct-lending balance sheet with an institutional-credit fund structure, allowing it to co-invest alongside family offices and pension funds. Its geographic footprint covers the UK, with select cross-border transactions through partner institutions. The firm employs a substantial team of credit analysts and data scientists, though exact headcount is not publicly disclosed. Adjacent to the bank is OakNorth's software subsidiary, which licenses the internal credit-analytics platform to over 20 banking institutions across North America, Europe, and Asia. In 2024, OakNorth reported crossing the £12 billion cumulative-lending milestone, reinforcing its place as a dominant alternative lender in the UK mid-market (per the firm, 2024). OakNorth's structural differentiator is its dual model: a regulated deposit-taking bank that funds a lending book, coupled with a separate SaaS business selling the underwriting technology to other lenders. This creates a self-reinforcing data flywheel — every loan feeds the benchmarking engine, which improves underwriting for the bank and the software product sold externally. Governance remains concentrated with the co-founders, who maintain operational control and have publicly positioned the firm for a potential IPO.
General information
Firm type
Asset Manager
Year founded
2015
AUM
Undisclosed
Location
Region
Europe
Country
United Kingdom
City
London
Corporate office
London, United Kingdom
Additional offices
Manchester · Birmingham
Principals
Rishi Khosla
Co-Founder & CEO
Joel Perlman
Co-Founder & Senior Managing Director
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Who runs investment decisions at OakNorth?
Co-founders Rishi Khosla and Joel Perlman lead the firm. Khosla serves as CEO, while Perlman is Senior Managing Director. Credit decisions run through a central committee supported by sector-focused underwriting teams, rather than a single CIO. The pair previously built Copal Amba, a financial-data firm sold to Moody's in 2014.
How does OakNorth source its deal flow?
The firm sources primarily through a network of UK accountants, corporate-finance advisors, and direct outreach to growth-stage companies. Its lending is concentrated in the mid-market, where high-street banks have retrenched. OakNorth also receives referrals from private-equity sponsors and venture-capital investors whose portfolio companies need debt facilities.
Is OakNorth a bank, a fintech, or something else?
Structurally, OakNorth is both. It holds a UK banking license and takes retail deposits, which fund a commercial-lending book. Simultaneously, it operates a SaaS subsidiary that licenses its credit-analysis platform to other banks globally — a revenue stream entirely separate from the lending balance sheet. This hybrid model separates it from pure-play neobanks and traditional lenders.
Does OakNorth raise external funds or only lend from its balance sheet?
OakNorth lends from its own deposit-funded balance sheet but also manages institutional-credit vehicles that allow external allocators, including family offices and pension funds, to participate in larger transactions. The exact AUM of those vehicles is not publicly disclosed.
What investment stages does OakNorth target?
OakNorth does not take equity. It provides debt facilities — typically senior secured loans and working-capital lines — to established mid-market companies with proven cash flows. Startups and pre-revenue businesses are generally outside its mandate, though it has lent to revenue-generating, VC-backed companies scaling toward profitability.
Where does the underlying capital come from?
The bank is privately held, with backing from institutional investors including SoftBank's Vision Fund, the Clermont Group, and several family offices. Khosla and Perlman retain significant ownership after their exit from Copal Amba. The firm has not disclosed a single-family-wealth origin.
Does OakNorth maintain any philanthropic or ESG-linked lending programs?
OakNorth has not established a separate philanthropic foundation. Its ESG posture is embedded in lending criteria: the bank publishes sector-specific climate-risk assessments and has publicly committed to net-zero lending targets aligned with UK regulatory expectations. No ring-fenced impact fund has been launched.
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