Trade finance bank Neotrade has launched in the U.K., offering financing for small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) using an artificial intelligence (AI)-based scoring system to provide a “personalized financing experience within the minutes.”
As FinTech Futures reported Monday (June 13), the company aims to serve SMBs that struggle to find financing.
“More than 40% of requests are automatically rejected,” the company said. “In addition, as agile businesses, SMBs need an easy, transparent and fast way to finance.”
Neotrade said it serves this underserved market with a goal of shaping “the trade finance market for SMBs in the future and cover the market gap.”
Using a four-step process, Neotrade said it can handle supplier payments, letting customers pay immediately based on their chosen payment terms.
See also: Barclaycard, Liberis Offer SMBs Revenue-Based Financing
“We believe that international trade is an important driver for global growth. Businesses should have access to a steady cash-flow throughout the year,” Neotrade said. “In the face of the unexpected, the usual behavior is to look, wait and lie down. We want to help businesses stay safe while anticipating all breakdowns.”
The launch comes days after small business working capital startup Factris secured 10 million euros in funding from NN Investment Partners, a Goldman Sachs-owned asset manager.
Read more: Factris Secures €10M to Finance Invoices for European SMEs
Based in Amsterdam, the FinTech offers capital to SMBs through factoring, which gets businesses money instantly on unpaid invoices instead of having to wait months for the invoice to be settled.
Also last week, payments company Barclaycard and embedded business finance platform Liberis joined forces to offer SMB customers access to personalized, revenue-based financing.
London-based Liberis’ platform has been integrated with partners in the United Kingdom, United States, Ireland, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Slovakia and Czech Republic.
The partnership gives clients access to Barclaycard Business Cash Advance, a new solution meant to help fund SMBs with fixed-cost financing.
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