The “bank for entrepreneurs, by entrepreneurs”, OakNorth, has provided £1m in working capital to fellow UK fintech, payment services provider NetPay.
Founded in 2012, NetPay offers credit and debit card processing through face-to-face, online and telephone payment services. The platform’s tech is responsible for delivering payments services to over 7,000 businesses per month in the UK alone, who on average go on to process an aggregate of £925m per year across 28m transactions.
“Since our founding five years ago, we have seen the payments market in the UK evolve rapidly, with technologies such as contactless and mobile payments becoming more mainstream,” said Carl Churchill, co-founder and managing director of NetPay.
“Cards are now the most popular payment method in the nation with cards and contactless payments overtaking cash in retail for the first time during 2017. We want to help every business to gain access to these payment services through our technology and in turn, open opportunities to generate revenue and improve their cash flow.
“This finance from OakNorth will help finance our daily operations and enable us to continue pursuing our ambitious growth plans.”
OakNorth makes loans of up to £25m to high growth UK businesses and property developers. It has rapidly grown its loanbook to over £900m since launching in late 2015, with a client base which includes Leon, Gallidard Homes and Brasserie Blanc.
The bank’s ACORN data and technology platform uses machine learning to extract relevant data from millions of data points on prospective borrowers, which are pulled via cloud-based technology. The ACORN platform is also available for licencing by lenders in other geographies, allowing them to slicken their own origination and underwriting capabilities.
“NetPay is an ambitious and determined business with incredibly experienced founders and management team,” added Adam Agius, debt finance director at OakNorth.
“As the number of card transactions in the UK continues to rise, NetPay is in a prime position to continue growing its influence and importance in the market.”
