MarketFinance rebrands as Kriya

MarketFinance, one of the first UK fintech lending companies, is rebranding as Kriya.

The new name comes from a Sanskrit word “denoting a state of flow and completed action”, according to a statement from the firm, and refers to the companies growing focus on frictionless payment and credit solutions.

Alongside the rebrand, Kriya has appointed three new board members to help its increasing pivot to B2B payments and embedded finance. 

Michael Woodburn, a former Chief Operating Officer at Capital One is its new board chairman while Luke Griffiths, Chief Commercial Officer at Klarna, and Myles Dawson, former UK Managing Director, Adyen, have joined as directors. 

Woodburn is also a current board member at fellow fintech Zopa.

“We aim to become the world’s leading B2B payment and credit provider, so their experience in risk and data, international growth, and building payment and credit tools that are frictionless to use for suppliers and buyers will be vital,” said Anil Stocker, Kriya’s co-founder and CEO. 

The company, founded by Anil Stocker, Ilya Kondrasho and Charles Delingpole, was originally known as MarketInvoice when it launched in 2011.  

Originally a funder of invoices, the company made the move into loans three years ago when it rebranded to MarketFinance in 2019.

The company says its seen £20bn in B2B payments through its platform and advanced over £3bn worth of credit through working capital and business loans. 

 The company began offering embedded finance solutions in January 2022 and Stocker says demand has grown significantly since owing to the current economic environment meaning both suppliers and buyers are more focused on payment terms. 

“Since launch Kriya has made available more than £60m in credit via this channel to more than 2,000 buyers. On average, buyers using it borrow £825 per transaction, but with returning customers using more than £6,000 in credit per month, this shows significant potential for SMEs to use this form of credit as part of their daily operations,” Stocker said. 

“And with Kriya’s single largest payment to date worth more than £63,000, buyers are also using it to fund strategic projects and big ticket items,” he added.