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ThinCats, the fintech lender for mid-sized SMEs, today welcomes a new £20 million funding commitment from British Business Investments, a commercial subsidiary of the British Business Bank.
British Business Investments is making the new commitment under its Investment Programme, which supports the development of more diverse debt finance markets for small and medium sized businesses. The commitment will provide ThinCats with additional capital to make term loans which will support the growth of businesses across the UK.
ThinCats now has capital in excess of £800 million for the funding of UK smaller businesses, across the full risk spectrum and in all regions and sectors, from £250,000 to £10 million. It aims to simplify the traditional bank-dominated commercial lending model by connecting smaller businesses directly with institutional and retail investors.
Damon Walford, Chief Development Officer, ThinCats, said: “We are very excited to welcome British Business Investments to our group of funders. This is a significant step in our mission to level the playing field for British entrepreneurs whose growth ambitions are being held back by traditional lending models.”
Catherine Lewis La Torre, CEO, British Business Investments, said: “A big part of our role is to increase the overall supply and diversity of finance – both product and provider – on offer to UK smaller businesses thereby creating more choice and competition in the market. ThinCats’ innovative approach brings a welcome additional model to the market and we look forward to working with them so more funding reaches businesses across the UK.”
Ravi Anand, Managing Director, ThinCats, added: “British Business Investments’ funding commitment constitutes a great success for our business, and we are looking forward to working together with the team. Our increasing diversity of institutional funding sources allows us to address the full spectrum of our target market and this new commitment plays an important role in this context.”
The FinTech alternative lending sector has grown significantly over the last few years, with annual origination volumes currently in excess of £2 billion spread across business lending, property lending, invoice finance and merchant cash advance.
ENDS
For more information:
ThinCats@cicero-group.com
0203 841 9333
Sophie Reece
Marketing & Communications Manager
07920 205010
Sophie.Reece@british-business-bank.co.uk
Emma Castle
Account Manager, MHP Communications
020 3128 8698/ 07809539376
Emma.Castle@mhpc.com
Notes to editors:
About British Business Investments
British Business Investments is the trading name of British Business Investments Ltd, a wholly-owned commercial subsidiary of British Business Bank plc, the UK government’s economic development bank. It forms part of the British Business Bank’s commercial arm.
British Business Investments aims to earn a commercial return by investing – through finance providers – in smaller businesses and small mid-caps, pursuing investments on a fully commercial basis without receiving any economic advantage from the government. Find out more at bbinv.co.uk.
British Business Bank plc and its subsidiary entities are not banking institutions and do not operate as such. Neither British Business Bank nor its principal operating subsidiaries are authorised or regulated by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) or the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). A complete legal structure chart for British Business Bank plc and its subsidiaries can be found on the British Business Bank plc websiteLink opens in a new window.
The funding from British Business Investments into ThinCats does not amount to any endorsement or warranty from British Business Investments, the British Business Bank PLC, or the government of the UK.
ThinCats is an established fintech lender dedicated to funding UK SMEs with business loans up to £10m using pioneering data, personal relationships and a pragmatic lending process enabled through proprietary technology. ThinCats’ progressive approach has already enabled UK SMEs to borrow more than £385m. www.thincats.comLink opens in a new window
ThinCats’ proprietary risk model is based on 25 years of SME data and establishes the credit worthiness of a borrower combined with the security available under the loan to establish potential recovery values. The model provides a guide to ThinCats’ credit appetite and determines loan pricing from 5% upwards. ThinCats is the trading name of a group of companies owned by ESF Capital Limited.
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