SME lender Growth Street joins the Xero Marketplace

Business finance provider Growth Street has partnered with leading cloud accounting platform Xero, helping bring funding and accounting solutions closer together for the UK’s businesses.

The agreement will see Growth Street’s flagship lending product, GrowthLine, available on the Xero App Marketplace as a recommended option for businesses seeking working capital finance. GrowthLine is an overdraft alternative, giving SME borrowers access to up to £2m of working capital finance, unlocking cash tied up in unpaid invoices, stock and work in progress.

The firms are soon to deepen their collaboration with a sophisticated integration via the Xero partner API. Xero customers using Growth Street’s GrowthLine facility will see GrowthLine transactions automatically reconciled in real time, saving business owners by seamlessly reconciling withdrawals and repayments on their behalf.

Growth Street’s Xero partnership follows its tie-up with digital bank Starling last year. Since launching in 2014, Growth Street has now facilitated more than £85m of borrowing through its platform. Earlier in 2019, the firm announced a £7.5m round of funding led by Merian Global Investors.

Greg Carter, Growth Street CEO, commented: “I’m thrilled that Growth Street and Xero are working together to make life easier for Britain’s brilliant SMEs. Xero shares our desire to sweat the small stuff for business owners, saving them time and letting them concentrate on what they’re good at.”

Shalom Joseph, vice president of partnerships at Growth Street, added: “The average small business now has access to more smart digital tools than ever before. But I think this toolkit works best when all the parts are working together intelligently. I’m glad we’re playing our part in making financial management a little easier and smoother.”

Edward Berks, Xero’s EMEA director, business platform, commented: “We’re very happy that Growth Street are live on Xero’s business marketplace. Greg and the team have built a really differentiated product in GrowthLine, and we’re excited to give more businesses the opportunity to access a different kind of funding through our platform.”