Banco BNI Europa to provide £45m to UK SMEs through MarketInvoice
MarketInvoice, the world’s largest peer-to-peer online invoice finance marketplace, has signed an agreement with Banco BNI Europa (BNI) to provide £45m in funding annually on the marketplace to fund working capital solutions for businesses across the UK.
BNI trialled an investment last year (£28.3m) and has now signalled its full commitment and confidence in the MarketInvoice proposition. Overall, sums advanced to UK businesses from institutional investors via MarketInvoice have almost doubled over the last three years from £96.1m to £176.2m. Interestingly, since the Brexit vote, global institutional investor investments in MarketInvoice have increased 34% compared to investors in the UK, which has remained constant.
MarketInvoice has funded over 70,000 invoices worth more than £1.2bn (to date) unlocking working capital for businesses across the UK. MarketInvoice effectively supports over 18,700 jobs across the businesses it serves, driving UK economic progress.
The recent increase in interest from global institutions has come since the launch of MarketInvoice Pro and mirrors the up-take of the product by UK businesses. MarketInvoice Pro is a confidential invoice discounting facility, launched in February 2017, offering businesses a funding line against their outstanding invoices. This product upgrades the MarketInvoice offer from its long-standing invoice-by-invoice product called Select.
Pedro Coelho, executive chairman of Banco BNI Europ, said:
“In 2015, we put in place a digital strategy to drive our investments through fintech platforms. This news is testament to how well it has worked for us.
“We are proactively working with fintech businesses globally that prescribe to our vision of providing low-cost, innovative products with exceptional customer service. MarketInvoice has consistently delivered these values over the years. The MarketInvoice Pro service is now a further means to build on our relationship as it provides a longer-term arrangement.
“It is inevitable that banks will work more collaboratively with fintech businesses. I am firm believer of this and see much scope in the industry.”
Anil Stocker, CEO and co-founder of MarketInvoice said:
“Institutions have played a significant role in our growth story and over the past two years have consistently funded almost 60% of the working capital provided to UK businesses via MarketInvoice. This new commitment from BNI is further proof of our ability to provide finance to high growth businesses across the country, we’re excited by their support of our mission.
“Banco BNI Europa has shown foresight in adopting a digital strategy and executing it by working with the European peer-to-peer industry. There are strong synergies between us as a fintech platform and BNI as a digital-only bank. We look forward to building on this relationship as we scale into larger funding lines through our new MI Pro product. I’m sure we’ll see many more examples of this type of collaboration in the coming months.”
MarketInvoice’s main strategic ambition is to broaden its reach to be able to support a wider range of businesses, from start-ups to larger businesses looking to scale up. The company aims to help even more companies get paid faster by financing their invoices, so business owners can save time and focus on running their business.
MarketInvoice business highlights (last 12 months):
• Funded against invoices worth over £1.2b (to date, since 2011), £2,196 funded every minute to UK businesses in 2016.
• Provided record funding to UK businesses in March 2017 (£54.7m) and delivered 60% year-on-year funding growth from £81.1m (Q1 2016) to £129.6m (Q1 2017).
• Raised £7.2m (series B) in recent investment round from European venture capital fund Northzone and private equity group MCI Capital.
• Appointed Giles Andrews, the founding father of peer-to-peer lending, as chairman in March 2017.
