The debt financing has been provided from a global investment firm alongside Italian bank Intesa Sanpaolo S.p.A.
Fintech business lender MarketFinance has launched a £280m debt and equity fundraise, and revealed its accreditation under the Recovery Loan Scheme (RLS).
Prior to the launch of the RLS, MarketFinance was previously accredited under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS), lending £250m to companies across the UK.
The debt financing has been provided from a global investment firm alongside Italian bank Intesa Sanpaolo S.p.A.
The equity investment was led by Black River Ventures - previous investments include Marqeta, Upgrade, Coursera and Digital Ocean - with participation from existing investor, Barclays Bank PLC.
In addition, the launch of MarketFinance Flex Loans aims to help nearly one million small to medium enterprises (SMEs) in the UK solve their short-term funding gaps up to £100,000.
Viola Credit has provided MarketFinance with £20m to launch the Flex Loans product.
Similar to a credit card or overdraft, 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.
Anil Stocker, chief executive at MarketFinance, said: “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.
"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 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."
