MarketFinance to lend £280m under RLS
MarketFinance will lend up to £280m under the recovery loan scheme (RLS).
The alternative lender has been accredited to the scheme, which will run to the end of the year, subject to a review, and has received £280m through an equity and debt fundraise which it is ready to immedicably lend under the RLS.
The debt financing has been provided from a large global investment firm alongside Italy’s largest bank, Intesa Sanpaolo, while the equity investment was led by Black River Ventures with participation from existing investor, Barclays Bank.
From today, businesses can apply for an RLS loan from MarketFinance of between £50,000 and £250,000, repayable over four, five or six years.
This follows the alternative lender deploying £250m through the coronavirus business interruption loan scheme (CBILS).
Read more: MarketFinance embarks on hiring spree for product push
The lender has also launched a new product – MarketFinance flex loans – backed by £20m from Viola Credit, to help small- and medium-sized enterprises with their funding gaps. Similar to a credit card or overdraft facility, businesses will have a pre-agreed limit of up to £100,000 which they can withdraw at once or in smaller amounts.
Flexible repayment options enable the businesses to spread their repayments over three to 12 months based on their working capital needs.
MarketFinance said it would support a variety of one-off and ongoing funding requirements such as purchasing inventory, clearing outstanding invoices, upfront supplier payments, investment into sales and marketing, or expanding the team.
The RLS accreditation and flex product launch comes after the lender recorded profitability for the first half of the year.
Read more: MarketFinance reaches profitability
“This funding and our accreditation as a RLS lender is testament to the brilliant work everyone at MarketFinance has done to serve UK businesses during a difficult period,” said Anil Stocker (pictured), chief executive at MarketFinance.
“Adapting to the increased demand from businesses looking for finance online instead of through traditional avenues also drove our profitability this year, which has continued into H2 2021. Businesses have been resilient and managed to hold their nerve during one of the most difficult periods in recent history.
“We were there to help with the CBILS and will do the same with the RLS by offering a simple application process, quick decisions and sending funds to businesses immediately. Our fundraise puts us in pole position to do this.
“We played a key role during CBILS, as one of the first fintech lenders, to help get funds to businesses quickly when they found their applications were delayed and or denied by others.
“We will stand shoulder to shoulder with businesses and help navigate them through to the full reopening of the economy and beyond. We aim to quickly lend £250m to businesses around the UK.
“We anticipate demand for RLS to come from companies that will need capital to scale operations ahead of the full reopening of the economy. Manufacturers, wholesalers, public services businesses and a range of others will need the funds to ramp up supplies and build pipelines as business returns to normal.”
The recovery loan scheme was launched in April to support businesses as they recover from the pandemic.
Recent accreditations to the scheme include: Haydock Finance, Arkle Finance, Nucleus Commercial Finance, BLG, InterBay Asset Finance, Genesis Asset Finance and Independent Growth.