CircleLending was founded in Cambridge, Massachusetts in May 2000 by Asheesh Advani and launched in 2001.

[3] In 2006, the company received venture capital from Venrock Associates, Bezos Expeditions and Omidyar Network totalling $10 million.

[3][4] Virgin Money US focused solely on formalizing and servicing loans between friends and family, a business model which differentiated it from later social lending and crowdfunding businesses which encouraged loans between strangers.

In 2008 the company bought Lendia, and renamed it Virgin Money USA Inc., but sold it back to its founder, Greg O'Connor, the following year.

[6] In 2010, during the financial crisis of 2007–2010, Virgin Money began its withdrawal from the US market.