UK Government Begins Investment in SMEs via Marketinvoice.Com

LONDON, September 2, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

'Initiative will see circa. £40m advanced to SMEs over a 12 month period'

MARKETINVOICE, the online funding platform for SMEs seeking access to working capital, is delighted to announce the commencement of the UK Government's investment through its service.

As part of the Government's Business Finance Partnership, the Department for Business Innovation and Skills ('BIS') is committing £5m as an Investor Member on MarketInvoice, with expected yearly returns of approximately 10-12%. With funds on MarketInvoice recycled every 45 days, this £5m commitment will equate to approximately £40m in investment to SMEs over the next year.

Already, more than 10 businesses across sectors such as fashion retail, marketing, software and telecommunications have benefited from the Government funds now flowing through MarketInvoice directly to SMEs.

MarketInvoice enables SMEs to sell their long-dated invoices to a pool of investors, who in return for advancing most of the funds upfront, take a small discount fee in return.

Since launch in February 2011, MarketInvoice has channelled more than £65m to UK SMEs - £42m of which was in the last 12 months alone, with more than £6m now going through the platform each month. Unlike traditional invoice discounting facilities, businesses using MarketInvoice are not tied into long exclusive contracts, nor are they required to sell their entire sales ledger as part of the agreement. SMEs using MarketInvoice can sell their invoices selectively, as and when they choose, with no personal guarantees required.

The Business Finance Partnership was setup to boost business funding via non-bank lending channels. As part of the initiative, approximately £87m has been earmarked for investment through non-traditional channels of funding, such as Marketinvoice.com.

Commenting on today's news, MarketInvoice Co-Founder Anil Stocker said:

"Everyone at MarketInvoice is both delighted and honoured to have been included in the Business Finance Partnership. We hear every day how UK SMEs are finding it increasingly difficult to access critical working capital and therefore the Government's investment via our platform is both a hugely positive and timely development.

"This investment is going straight into the real economy; funding businesses that are hiring, growing, exporting and forging ahead with new products and services across a wide range of sectors. Despite the uncertain economic climate, SMEs using our service remain determined to push ahead, and the Government's funding will go some way to helping them achieve this."

About MarketInvoice (http://www.marketinvoice.com)

MarketInvoice is the Europe's first online funding platform allowing SMEs to selectively sell their long-dated invoices to a pool of registered investors.  Businesses sign up to MarketInvoice, and then list for-sale invoices due to blue-chip debtors with payment terms of between 30-120 days.  Investors compete to provide the funding at the lowest cost, with winning buyers advancing cash to SMEs within 24 hours. Investors make their returns by charging SMEs a small discount fee on the invoice sold of approximately 1%, while MarketInvoice charges Sellers a one off, up front service charge of between 0.5-2.5% of the invoice sold.

MarketInvoice allows SMEs to post invoices for sale as and when they choose, confidentially and with no lock in periods, service charges or personal guarantees required. Since launching in 2011, MarketInvoice has channelled over £65m in funding to SMEs via thousands of transactions on its platform. In March 2013, the company was included in the UK Government's "Business Finance Partnership", a development which will, over the course of a year, see SMEs benefit from approximately £40m of government funds through MarketInvoice.

Twitter: @marketinvoice