🗞️ NEW: This morning we’re announcing some record-breaking news 📰 ↗️ We’ve secured £150m from Citibank and Insight Investment for our German expansion. ↗️ We’ve also secured an additional £120m from Barclays and Värde Partners for the UK. ↗️ We’ve broken our record for the volume of loans issued in the first quarter of this year. ↗️ We had a record-breaking 2023 - both in terms of volume and value of loans issued. ↗️ We’ve now lent over £3bn in loans to SMEs since being founded in 2012. ↗️ Total gross investment in iwoca has now surpassed £1bn. 💬 Christoph Rieche, iwoca CEO and co-founder said: “This investment will enable us to keep up with the high demand from small businesses for our Flexi-Loan product. Business owners choose us over high-street banks because we make faster lending decisions, typically within 24 hours, and our loan terms are much more flexible. Both of these features are crucial for small business owners, and are only possible due to the technology we have developed over the last decade. With more than 130,000 small business loans processed, we have ample data to build market-leading risk models. This data-driven approach also allows us to lend to businesses that are outside the restrictions imposed by the high-street banks, especially when they don’t have multiple years of trading.” 👉 Full story in the comments below. #smefinance #smallbusiness #alternativelending #citibank #insightinvestment #barlcays #värdepartners #fintech #funding #iwoca
iwoca
Financial Services
West End, England 34,102 followers
At iwoca, we believe finance should feel like a superpower, not a headache.
About us
iwoca was founded to expand possibilities for small businesses. At iwoca, we believe finance should feel like a superpower, not a headache. That’s why our founders, Chris and James, decided to create a solution custom-built for small businesses. One that strips out the hassle, gets to know what each business needs, and looks for opportunities rather than problems. One that provides access to finance where and when your business needs it. Our partner integrations and our Lending API mean we can provide access to finance where and when small businesses need it. Our award winning credit risk engine help us make faster, more accurate credit decisions built around the performance of the business. We are proud to be NACFB Lender of the year, Xero Financial Services App of the year and, most recently, winner of the £10m Banking Competition Remedies grant. Since 2012, we’ve made funding available to over 50,000 businesses, from cafés to car dealers, salons to solicitors. But we’ve only just started. Our mission is to fund one million small businesses.
- Website
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http://www.iwoca.co.uk
External link for iwoca
- Industry
- Financial Services
- Company size
- 201-500 employees
- Headquarters
- West End, England
- Type
- Privately Held
- Founded
- 2011
- Specialties
- Fintech, Trade Finance, Alternative Lending, Small Business Financing, SME, Working Capital, Small business, Credit, Finance, and Lending
Locations
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Primary
Get directions
101 New Cavendish St
West End, England W1W 6XH, GB
Employees at iwoca
Updates
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iwoca fully supports the new SME Taskforce and report launched today by Centre for Finance, Innovation and Technology (CFIT). Some words from our CEO Christoph Rieche: "SME lending is at a tipping point, with 60% of finance now coming from tech-first lenders rather than traditional banks. The new Government has a great opportunity to collaborate with these innovative lenders to continue to shape the industry so that more and more SMEs benefit from financing and thus stimulate economic growth—a win-win for all. “Access to high-quality data is essential for much of this to happen. For example, direct access to company VAT data will provide a more accurate financial picture of SMEs, leading to better (and more) lending decisions. While OpenBanking has great promise, it currently faces data inconsistency challenges from traditional lenders. Mandating standardised data formats in OpenBanking will streamline application processes and unlock additional finance for millions of SMEs. “Since our launch in 2012, iwoca has provided several billion pounds in funding to over 100,000 businesses, establishing ourselves as a leading fintech in Europe. Our goal of funding 1 million SMEs will be achieved much faster through closer cooperation with the government and by implementing the recommendations in this report.”
We are excited to announce the launch of the CFIT-chaired SME Finance Taskforce report: ‘Smart Data: improving SME lending to drive economic growth’. Following the recent announcement of the Digital Information and Smart Data Bill by The Labour Party Government, the report offers actionable solutions to overcome the lack of access to crucial data, which hinders SMEs from securing the finance that will allow them to scale. Here are our seven key recommendations: 📜 Prioritise the Digital Information and Smart Data Bill. 🧩 Fund and support an SME “Smart Data Challenge”. 💡 Revamp HM Treasury’s Bank Referral and Commercial Credit Data Sharing (CCDS) Schemes. 🚅 Fast-track reform of Companies House, in particular, the standardisation and verification of Company information. 🗝️ Unlock private-sector data by utilising digital receipts from HM Revenue & Customs and improved access to tax data for approved organisations. 📩 Develop and consult on an e-invoicing scheme for the UK to align with international markets. 🏛️ Boost trust in using new alternative specialist lenders. As SMEs make up 60% of the private-sector workforce, enabling them to access the finance they need is essential for the economic growth of the UK. With a significant shift towards challenger banks and alternative lenders, these recommendations are more important than ever as UK SMEs face a growing funding gap. We are very grateful to all our partners, including iwoca, Sage, OakNorth, Allica Bank, Experian, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, Mastercard, Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) and Revolut, for their invaluable contributions to the report. We would also like to thank the Open Banking secretariat, who has been a vital part of this coalition. Read the full report and join the discussion: https://lnkd.in/ekvN9mpS #UKFintech #SmartData #SMEGrowth #SMEFinance
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iwoca reposted this
💵 The funding gap is growing for SME’s. What can fintech do to solve this? 💵 On this week’s Fintech Insider Insights, Host Kate Moody is joined by: 📣 Valentina Kristensen - Director of Growth and Communications at OakNorth 📣 Christoph Rieche - CEO of iwoca 📣 Brian Baldacchino - Head of Lending Strategy & Corporate Development at Allica Bank We discuss: 🚧 Problems SME’s face when accessing funding 📉 Bankings underinvestment in this sector 👩🚒 What fintechs are doing to help Listen now on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts 🎧
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NEW: UK’s best place to work 2024? 🇬🇧 SMEs employ around 16 million people across the UK, but have you ever wondered where the best place to work for one could be? 📊 iwoca has compiled a new ranking of top towns & cities using ONS data looking at average wages, commute times, job density, house prices and small business growth. Highlights: ⬆ #Peterborough tops the list for the first time! (link in comments to find out why) ➡ #Preston and #Newcastle rank second and third respectively, demonstrating the strength of the North for small business job opportunities ⬇ #Glasgow - which held the top spot for the past two years - drops out of the top 10 ⛔ London absent from the top 25 for the third year running, while the three worst-performing towns are all in the South East.
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iwoca reposted this
NEW: We sat down with CityAM's Lars Mucklejohn to discuss the SME lending market and some of iwoca's plans for the future. Highlights: 🚀 Demand continues to increase. Huge demand for iwoca's loans has resulted in another record quarter, fuelling plans for future growth. 📈 Banks continue to pull away. Data from UK Finance suggests that 59% of SME lending now comes from outside big banks. iwoca is filling that gap. 💷 SMEs want larger loans. iwoca's latest SME Expert Index revealed that applications for loans over £100k are growing considerably. ⚙ New products serving a need. B2B buy-now-pay-later solution, iwocaPay, continues to grow and give trade customers much-needed flexible payment options. 🔈 Christoph Rieche, CEO and co-founder, iwoca said: "We are growing fast while also being solidly profitable"... On future growth? "We have the people, we have the expertise, we have the capital." *FULL STORY IN COMMENTS*
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NEW: We sat down with CityAM's Lars Mucklejohn to discuss the SME lending market and some of iwoca's plans for the future. Highlights: 🚀 Demand continues to increase. Huge demand for iwoca's loans has resulted in another record quarter, fuelling plans for future growth. 📈 Banks continue to pull away. Data from UK Finance suggests that 59% of SME lending now comes from outside big banks. iwoca is filling that gap. 💷 SMEs want larger loans. iwoca's latest SME Expert Index revealed that applications for loans over £100k are growing considerably. ⚙ New products serving a need. B2B buy-now-pay-later solution, iwocaPay, continues to grow and give trade customers much-needed flexible payment options. 🔈 Christoph Rieche, CEO and co-founder, iwoca said: "We are growing fast while also being solidly profitable"... On future growth? "We have the people, we have the expertise, we have the capital." *FULL STORY IN COMMENTS*
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4 weeks to go until the NACFB Expo! 👀 NEC Birmingham 📍 Wednesday 26 June Fancy booking some time in with the team? (contact Sarah Hamon Watt) Want to hear about our new products? Or just fancy a free cupcake? See you on Stand C09 👋 https://lnkd.in/eXi4Aeft
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iwoca reposted this
Product @ iwoca | Ex-Samsung | RAEng Scholar | ProductTank organiser | MEng Engineering Design
We held a clothes and books swap! 👕↔📚 At iwoca we're taking steps to be more environmentally friendly. Often we only share big news, but there's something to be said for small cultural shifts that add up to a larger impact. A massive thanks to Diego de Pablos, PhD for organising a super fun afternoon! 👏
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iwoca reposted this
iwoca secures £270M in debt funding to support SME lending https://buff.ly/3Qz7PwE
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👀 Join us as we chat with Vinny Kotecha to find out how he and his team at First Fence Ltd are leading the way in the fencing world by offering #iwocaPay's Buy Now Pay Later solution. 💬 Vinesh says, “We are a service business, we've got locations across the country, we try and make sure we can give everybody what they want when they want it. By having another flexible payment solution, we can get things rolling very, very quickly for all of our customers from anywhere.” Check out the full interview here: https://lnkd.in/ge5CaEkw