British investment bank Barclays has agreed to purchase a minority stake in fintech business, MarketInvoice, for an undisclosed sum.
Image: Barclays has agreed to purchase a minority stake in MarketInvoice. Photo: courtesy of Barclays.
Established in 2011, MarketInvoice is a business finance company that helps to manage cash flow for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the UK.
Claimed to be the Europe’s largest online invoice financing platform, MarketInvoice provides customers with a range of working capital solutions such as invoice finance and business loans.
Barclays Business Bank CEO Ian Rand said: “Invoice finance is a product that has come of age in the digital era, it’s efficient, effective and controllable for small businesses.”
With offices in London and Manchester, MarketInvoice has funded invoices worth more than £2.7bn, enabling to enhance cash flow for thousands of UK businesses.
Barclays is said to be the first high street bank to establish a strategic partnership with MarketInvoice, in a bid to help its customers to access fintech’s proprietary single invoice finance product and a wide range of digital invoice finance facilities.
The terms of an invoice normally direct a long payment period, which can be up to 120 days, making businesses with a cash flow gap in the interim.
The invoice financing enables SMEs selling goods or services to other businesses to upload or sync their invoices to MarketInvoice’s platform and sell them to investors, enabling to quickly access funding.
In the coming months, the proposition will be launched to Barclays’ SME clients in areas across the UK, including the East Midlands, West Midlands, Herts and North West London.
The full services are expected to be operational across the country in 2019.
Barclays is also planning to fund invoices through the platform in the future, helping to expand its asset base further.
MarketInvoice CEO Anil Stocker said: “It’s exciting to be combining the knowledge and footprint of a 325-year old British banking institution with MarketInvoice’s tech-led online finance solutions.
“Bringing this together in a strategic partnership can only mean good news for UK businesses, with the segment we’re targeting responsible for upwards of 60% of UK employment.”