MarketInvoice provides £100M of SME funding

In the past year, volume through MarketInvoice has grown 20% month-on-month, with October being the first time more than £10m was traded through the platform in a single month. £65m has been traded in 2013 alone, following £36m traded in 2012 and £4m traded in 2011.

Since launch in February 2011, SMEs from across the UK have raised funding via thousands of transactions on the MarketInvoice website, with the biggest single invoice sold being worth £1m.

The SMEs using MarketInvoice come from all sectors and include Facebook app developers, structural engineers and cupcake makers.

The average size of the invoices sold is £80,000 and 100% of invoices listed for sale on MarketInvoice have been funded in full – many of them within seconds of going live.

In August 2013, the UK government-backed British Business Bank began investing in SME invoices through MarketInvoice as part of its Business Finance Partnership, which helps to support new and alternative lending models for smaller businesses. This investment will equate to approximately £40m in SME funding put through MarketInvoice over a 12 month period.

Anil Stocker, co-founder of MarketInvoice, said: “Reaching this important £100 million milestone ahead of schedule is testament to the strong demand for our funding product, the quality of our service, and the hard work of our entire team. Monthly funding has quintupled during 2013, and I feel that this is only the beginning of what we can achieve as a disruptive financial technology platform.

“There’s still much to do though. Businesses in this country are still struggling to access the finance they need to launch new products, hire more people and enter new markets.

“We started MarketInvoice to provide a fast and flexible alternative to an acute problem faced by hundreds of thousands of SMEs across the UK. With £100m of funding now closed, our sights are firmly set on supporting many more ambitious, high-growth UK SMEs in the months and years ahead.”

Keith Morgan, CEO of the British Business Bank, added: “It is important that smaller businesses have access to a good range of finance providers, including new and innovative providers like MarketInvoice, that can help with specific financing needs.

“A key element of the British Business Bank’s purpose is to encourage competition and greater diversity in finance markets for smaller business.”