Business Finance Market secures £1.3million super seed investment
by Startacus Admin
Fintech platform, BFM secures major investment to support its mission of boosting access to finance for UK SMEs.
It’s a great start to the month for the Business Finance Market (BFM) team with the news that they have just secured £1.3 million super seed investment for their innovative fintech platform in a round led by Growth Capital Ventures.
BFM aims to boost access to finance for the country’s 5.9 million SMEs and this investment will be used to both drive the development of BFM’s technology forward and further enhance its team.
Experienced banker and entrepreneur Craig Iley – who has co-founded two challenger banks in the UK – established BFM in order to streamline the lending process through technology innovation and a reengineered customer journey to match lenders and SMEs together to help them secure the right finance for their business.
This new technology will allow SMEs to access quicker finance decisions while providing lenders and intermediaries with a fintech platform that will help to manage the end-to-end application process, improve information and increase deal flow in order to deliver faster credit decisions.
Craig Iley explained: “Expectations among SMEs are increasing with a demand for more focused lending products, faster credit decisions, improved funding chances and flexible options regarding collateral requirements. We are reengineering the entire journey, to reduce friction for all stakeholder groups and ensure better customer outcomes along with benefits to investors. Our focus on advanced databases and machine-learning algorithms and end-to-end customer journeys differ from the slower, less accurate, labour-intensive application processes and legacy systems in use today. The platform will have a real competitive advantage leading to the potential of higher profit margins, continued growth opportunities and the agility to respond more quickly and effectively than its competitors.”
Craig Peterson, co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of Growth Capital Ventures added: “Banking for the SME lending market is notoriously complex, outdated and unsupportive of the needs of the organisations that account for three fifths of employment and 50% of revenue in the private sector. Once developed, this platform will make it easier for SMEs and their trusted advisors to access finance quicker and easier. It will allow businesses to deal with multiple providers at the click of a button. This is an attractive proposition not just for SMEs but banks, commercial brokers, UK plc and the Bank of England.”
It will be worth keeping an eye out for the impact that this startup has on the UK's SMEs - exciting times ahead!
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Published on: 1st February 2022
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