Regular visotors to this News section will be well aware of the boom in interest and in funding for the financial technology (FinTech) sector. Our friends at Finextra look at recent data on the the fortunes of contemporary UK FinTechs. It’s a mixed bag, but a broadly positive picture. After a whirlwind decade that has […]
You might think ethical screening would simply be a part of due diligence. If a ;ender genuinely knows the client, one assumes that the ins and outs of a borrower’s business model – including the moral/ecological implications of the operation – become apparent). Lenders on this site can be sure we’ve looked hard at the […]
We’re not sure whether the FinTech sector can be said to have big dogs. There are unicorns aplenty, with billion-dollar valuations formulated in the fertile imaginations of venture capitalists. Big dogs, however, are real businesses, operating in a real business environment. If there is a UK FinTech big dog, we’d say challenger bank Revolut was […]
The dust thrown up by the Covid-19 virus hasn’t even begun to settle yet. Our friends at Crowdfundinsider report on a new platform set up to facilitate funding for companies that don’t qualify for the various government relief schemes. This is a separate issue from the scramble among altfi platforms to qualify for distributor status. […]
Are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) really aware of alternative funding sources? Sometimes we do wonder… The latest evidence comes from Hitachi Capital, as evidenced by is4profit: “One in three small businesses are ‘digging into their own pockets’ and rejecting external finance to grow their business,” it is reported. “The study of 1,000 small business […]
Should small companies seek to borrow to grow – or should they raise funds by selling a share of their business in an equity raise? The broad dichotomy between debt and equity is subject to scrutiny by some (we’ll be hosting a guest blog on site on this very issue later this week). But the […]
Our friends at TechWorld offer an interesting insight into the contemporary process of funding small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs). The article traces the thought process of SME executives deciding between crowdfunding and more traditional venture-capital funding to help their businesses grow. “The company is growing ‘pretty rapidly’, Navmii’s CEO, Peter Atalla, tells Techworld. It employs 40 people […]
We endorse the figures – not necessarily the text! More mixed news on the likelihood of a rise in interest rates. The bad news comes from BBC online, which reports that the rate of UK inflation rose to 1.9 per cent, up from 1.5 per cent in May, according to the Office for National Statistics. […]
A survey by Business Banking Insight (BBI), a new government-backed website for SMEs to compare bank performances, reveals continuing discontent with banks. The survey of 5,000 businesses found 85 per cent had not approached a bank to apply for credit during the past 12 months. Firms with less than 10 employees gave their banks an […]
Research carried out by AXA Business Insurance confirms our own recently published research that small businesses’ credit needs are not being met by conventional financing sources, and that growth is being hampered as a result. The Yorkshire Post reports that AXA’s research into five million businesses nationwide reveals “a worrying picture of firms not being […]