Member Article

Alternative finance provider MarketInvoice targets Yorkshire entrepreneurs

London-based alternative finance provider MarketInvoice, which provides P2P business funding, has begun a drive to target and support Yorkshire entrepreneurs.

As part of a major Northern expansion plan, MarketInvoice will be targeting a predicted 20,000 Yorkshire entrepreneurs that reportedly started working for themselves last year.

Since its London launch in 2011, invoices worth £304 million have been traded and the company has secured the support of the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS), which has provided a £5 million funding pot for MarketInvoice clients.

They say they will provide easy access to working capital to ensure that many fledgling businesses will have opportunities for growth.

One Yorkshire company which has already taken advantage of MarketInvoice’s service is Exquisite Handmade Cakes, based in Leeds which sells its products via major independent food distributors.

Director Viv Parry turned to MarketInvoice for help in growing the company while managing the increasingly strict terms demanded by suppliers to the catering sector.

Viv said: “MarketInvoice is a brilliant alternative funding platform that will allow the SME sector to perform as it should and drive growth back into the economy.”

MarketInvoice enables businesses to selectively sell their invoices to a network of global investors, releasing money up front that would otherwise be tied up for up to 120 days.

Anil Stocker, chief executive and co-founder of MarketInvoice, said: “The Yorkshire region is proving to be one of the most enterprising in the UK.

“However, an inability to secure access to working capital is still a major barrier to growth for many of them. We’re here to change that.

“Our new funding solution is turbo-charging growth and enabling businesses to hire new staff, launch new products and expand into new markets.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Clare Burnett .