Venture funding firm Just Capital launches with a pledge to lend £20m within the next 10 months to online businesses

A venture funding firm, which is pledging to lend £20m in 10 months and to be "a faster and fairer way" for online businesses to raise money without giving up equity, has launched.

Just Capital will offer online businesses up to £1m in venture debt, by its self-serve platform, with applications completed in minutes and funding approved in 48 hours, says the venture funding company.

 It says it’s on track to lend £20m to online businesses within the next 10 months.

Just Capital uses Open Banking and company data to make tailored offers to businesses wanting funding. 

The funding is to be used to scale up revenues, such as to be used for paid marketing or other means to scale up businesses.

It charges a fee on the capital, which is paid back as a  revenue share, said Just Capital.

The fee starts at six per cent, but might be higher depending on the business.

Just Capital structures the amount it lends and the revenue percentage it takes so it expects to get paid back in six months.  

But this payment timeframe is flexible.

The type of loan is called venture debt, where lenders get paid back on the back of future sales of the company they have lent to.

Founder and CEO Daniel Lipinski said, “As a second-time founder, I know the frustration of giving away equity in order to grow, when all I needed was cash for marketing expenses and inventory. For entrepreneurs, raising money through traditional routes becomes a full-time job."

“It’s a game we all play, but it’s not beneficial to founders or VC partners. Just Capital was born out of this frustration. With our platform, funding is simple, quick and easy and founders can focus on their real job: growing their business." “Just Capital is the funding model built for founders. We can fund your business growth continuously, while you retain all of your equity and without risking any personal assets."

“We only get repaid when you do well, so our only interest is maximising you. We believe we can scale any business and take them from £50k of funding to £1m, every six months." “We’re in a fortunate position to be able to deploy money in this environment at this level.  Everyone else is pulling back or shoring up their portfolio. We’re putting more money on the table and we’re ready to go.” 

An investor in Just Capital is Fuel Ventures, an investor in UK technology companies.