Danish fashion magnate Anders Povlsen has agreed to buy at least 10pc of Funding Circle to anchor the peer-to-peer lender’s £2bn market float.

The billionaire tycoon behind clothing retailers Asos and Zalando will throw his weight behind the listing which will offer approximately £300m worth of new shares to the market this autumn, according to a Sky News report.

Mr Povlsen, who is also one of Britain’s largest landowners, has agreed to buy a tenth of the company up to a maximum valuation of £1.65bn before the new funds are raised, according to sources cited by Sky.

The latest sign of investor support for the lender is likely to fuel Funding Circle’s rapid ascent towards its highly anticipated market listing this October.

Its major shareholders already include Edinburgh-based fund manager Baillie Gifford, DST Global, Rocket Internet and Index Ventures.

The lender, founded by Samir Desai in 2010, has made loans to SMEs in excess of £5bn, of which £1bn in the first half of this year alone.

The ‘unicorn’ start-up has also clinched partnership with major high street lenders including Royal Bank of Scotland and Santander UK.

If the float proves a success the stakes held by Mr Desai and his partners would be valued in the hundreds of millions of pounds.