Profitability, £280m of funding, ‘Flex’ loans and RLS accreditation: 4 big announcements from MarketFinance

Business lender MarketFinance made a ton of big announcements this morning, led by a £280m debt and equity funding deal.

On the debt side, the cash is being provided by Italian bank Intesa Sanpaolo, while on the equity front Black River Ventures is leading the round with involvement from existing investor Barclays.

As well as funding, MarketFinance was also today accredited to the Government’s Recovery Loan Scheme, meaning it will immediately start offering RLS loans of between £50,000 and £250,000 repayable over 4–6 years.

“We aim to quickly lend £250m to businesses around the UK,” said CEO Anil Stocker, who added that the funding and RLS accreditaion put MarketFinance in “pole position” to support SMEs during the post-Covid recovery.

“This funding and our accreditation as a Recovery Loan Scheme lender is testament to the brilliant work everyone at MarketFinance has done to serve UK businesses during a difficult period,” said Stocker, who also revealed that after first turning a profit in Q1MarketFinance continued the trend with a profitable Q2.

“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,” he said.

Finally, MarketFinace is joining the strange trend of fintechs launching ‘Flex’-branded products, with the arrival of Flex Loans today, an unsecured credit product for SMEs of up to £100,000 with repayments over 3–12 months.

Flex is being funded with £20m from Israeli credit investor Viola Credit, and is described as similar to an overdraft or credit card with businesses being pre-approved and then able to use the credit for one-off or recurring costs.

Stocker described today’s four announcements as being part of the lender’s commitment to standing “shoulder to shoulder” with SMEs during “the full reopening of the economy and beyond”.