Accelerated Payments hits €500m of invoice financing

SME funding provider Accelerated Payments today announced it has advanced €500m worth of invoice financing as it celebrates its fourth anniversary.  The milestone comes after the fast-growing European fintech increased its workforce during the pandemic and extended its global reach. The firm also expanded its UK office to support the increasing number of businesses that are grappling with post-Brexit supply chain issues and the end of furlough schemes.

Founded in 2017 by entrepreneurs with many years’ experience in financial services, Accelerated Payments addresses the problem of cash flow for businesses through a flexible and innovative invoice finance service.

Companies decide which invoices to fund and when by using a simple and straightforward, client portal that enables businesses to upload and select invoices for funding. Once approved, payment is advanced usually within 24 hours.

Another key strength of the company is its ability to support SMEs trading internationally. Accelerated Payments works on a global basis and can therefore fund exporters that invoice worldwide.

“Our current funding milestone reflects the valuable and urgent support we are delivering to businesses as they face the most challenging economic conditions in modern times,” said Ian Duffy, CEO, Accelerated Payments. “Despite the current climate, businesses still want to grow and export globally, but this is an impossible task when invoices aren’t paid on time. Our business model, which pays outstanding invoices upfront, provides the peace of mind that companies need to help them continue their scaling journey even when the odds seem stacked against them. The pandemic accelerated the requirement for our service and as we emerge from the crisis we expect more demand for our product offering as businesses continue to look for alternative sources of funding. We are grateful for our loyal customer base and the faith that they put in us – as well as the dedicated team that has helped us get to this stage of our business.”

Based in Dublin, with offices in London and Toronto, Accelerated Payments has funded over 44,000 invoices to more than 300 companies since its inception, offering a critical lifeline to SMEs that need to manage their cash-flow challenges.  Last month, Accelerated Payments also made headlines, when for the first time, it became an asset originator for a finance-based non-fungible token (NFT) transaction.

As well as funding invoices, the firm also credit insures the debtors, which gives businesses an extra piece of mind should there be any issues with settlement and also contributes to the rising popularity of the service.

Clients hail predominantly from North America, UK and Ireland but Accelerated Payments has also funded clients in the Caribbean and elsewhere in Europe. Clients operate across a variety of industries in the B2B sector. The firm has established a strong partner ecosystem with other alternative financiers over the years, including business banks, brokers, alternative lenders, and FX companies.

“We think the next 18 months to 2 years will be particularly busy for the alternative SME funding sector as SMEs switch from a reliance during Covid of government and state funding back to the private sector as state funding id wound down” added Duffy. “As we gain traction in North America, Canada and the UK- we see an abundance of opportunities for ourselves and the companies we aim to serve.”