Today, we chat to Colin Goldstein, Commercial Growth Director at iwoca, about what they have been up to recently and their exciting plans for the future! iwoca have been nominated for both Lender of the Year and CBILS Lender of the Year. Since launching in 2012, iwoca has made funding available to 50,000 businesses. They announced a £1 billion landmark in funding in 2019, and have lent over £300 million via CBILS.
Read on to find out more:
What financial products does iwoca specialise in?
iwoca is one of Europe’s leading small business lenders, providing an alternative to traditional business finance. Small business owners in any industry use iwoca funds to invest in growth, buy new stock, hire staff and start new projects. We were recently named as the top small business lender, and highest ranking fintech firm in The Sunday Times HSBC International Track 200.
Small businesses can access short-term finance (from £1,000 – £200,000) through our Flexi-Loan product. We’ve also lent over £300 million through the government-backed Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS). iwocaPay is our payments product – a first of its kind ‘Pay Now or Pay Later’ invoice checkout product designed to make payments free of charge.
What sets iwoca apart from other lenders?
iwoca was born out of the frustration that small businesses were struggling to find the finance they needed to reach their potential. We use technology to eliminate the cost and complexity associated with traditional business finance. Launching in 2012, iwoca was actually the first UK company to offer small business loans to traders on marketplaces like eBay and Amazon. A decade later we’ve now helped more than 50,000 businesses access the finance they need.
We’re extremely fast! You can sign up in as little as 5 minutes and funds can be in your account within hours of completing your application. Our Flexi-Loan is a simple product with no fees at all and with far more flexibility than a bank loan – you’ll only pay interest on the loan for the time you have it. Our platform also allows small businesses to link their online accounts so we can build a 360 degree view of their business. We analyse data which is not easily accessible to banks, to make fair credit decisions.
How did the pandemic affect iwoca?
We remained 100% focused on our mission – getting small businesses the finance they need to bridge cash flow gaps or make investments – within hours, not weeks. Coronavirus didn’t change this mission: it reinforced it.
We focused on delivering as much value to our customers as we could by helping them understand what government support was available to them, and how they could access it. Many iwocans (our people) actually switched roles to give our customers this extra help they needed. We also invested 50% more in our tech, product and analytics teams than the year before. We moved 100% remote overnight once lockdown was first announced, but there was no disruption for our customers and our service generally.
COVID affected many of our customers – in different ways – so we needed to find the best solution for each of them. We immediately worked to put a Coronavirus Repayment’s Support System in place and worked hand in hand with affected customers who were unable to make a payment, reducing or delaying their payments and offering affordable repayments tailored to their circumstances. iwoca also played an important role in supporting small businesses through the pandemic by lending over £300 million through the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS).
With funding we secured via the government Future Fund scheme, we scaled-up our provision of finance to small businesses to help get the economy back on track.
Finally, we teamed up with the charity Mental Health UK to develop a tailored mental health support product for SMEs which will offer practical tools, support networks and trained mental health specialists to small business owners.
What will your funding look like post-CBILS?
We’ll of course continue to lend through our Flexi-Loan, especially suitable for businesses who are starting to get back on track. We also hope to continue helping businesses get back on their feet through the new government-backed Recovery Loan Scheme.
iwoca continues to innovate during this crucial time. We’ll help more businesses get paid on time through our invoice payments product – iwocaPay – and reach more businesses through our lending API – OpenLending – which partners are using to embed iwoca finance into their own products and services.
Good Luck to iwoca and all of the SME Funding Award nominees. Watch this space for the winner announcements!
To find out more about the awards and the nominees take a look at the SME Funding Awards homepage here.
Related Articles:
SME Funding Awards 2021 Launch
Nominee Profile: Credit4
