Phaik Khaw

Iwoca

A sharp GC can make or break the fortunes of a start-up, and Phaik Khaw is a great example of the former category.

Since 2019, Khaw has been general counsel at Iwoca, an online fintech company providing credit financing services for small businesses through an automated lending platform. Over the past few years, she has paved the way for a steep growth trajectory by structuring complicated funding deals and boosting customer services by making contracts more easily understandable for users. Her background in structured debt finance – she was previously a director in the investment banking and legal units of UBS – helps her on a number of fronts, overseeing legal matters around product development as well as regulatory issues as part of her additional role as leader of the compliance team.

With the onset of the pandemic, Khaw managed to secure €100m (£90m) in debt financing from an asset manager in Germany. Since then, she has stepped up the game for Iwoca, not wasting the opportunity to add fuel to the business even in times of crisis. In May, Khaw put in place the legal nuts and bolts to become an accredited lender under the British Business Bank’s Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme. She then worked to double the amount Iwoca can lend through the government-backed loans to £200m, having already passed the £100m mark.