London-based FinTech MarketFinance has raised debt from Deutsche Bank that will allow the company to fund part of a 100 million British pound (about $125 million) lending effort for small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs), according to a Thursday (May 19) press release.
Lending to U.K. businesses has hit an all-time low, according to the Federation of Small Businesses’ quarterly Small Business Index, with 9% of small firms applying for financing in the first quarter of this year, the release stated.
MarketFinance is also expanding its lending capacity to include underserved SMBs, including the U.K.’s 3.2 million sole traders and partnerships, and it will continue to serve limited companies and LLPs, according to the release. Borrowers will have access to between 10,000 pounds to 500,000 pounds (about $12,500 to $625,000) within 24 hours of applying.
“Closing a funding deal from a high-caliber institution like Deutsche Bank is a huge milestone for our business and a testament to our lending track record, our technology and our people,” said MarketFinance Vice President Capital Markets Marion Delille in the release. “More than that, this facility will allow us to continue to deliver on our mission to make finance frictionless for U.K. [SMBs].”
MarketFinance operates a proprietary FinTech platform that promises frictionless access to business loans and working capital for U.K. SMBs.
“The FinTech movement started in the shadow of the 2008 financial crash and has since become a vital part of the finance ecosystem in the U.K. and exported globally,” said MarketFinance CEO and Co-Founder Anil Stocker in the release. “… We’re continuing to innovate by … embracing the move to embedded finance. We’re making our products available via key platforms, helping businesses manage their payments and gain seamless access to finance when they need it most.”
In April, Stocker told PYMNTS that the shift from bank-controlled offline lending to online applications stimulated the first wave of FinTech lending, leading to the decentralization of finance — a pandemic-induced trend involving embedding financial services into consumers’ apps, sites or ecosystems.
Read more: UK SMEs Gain ‘Instant, Single Click’ Lending Via Embedded Finance
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