Funding Xchange partners with Enterprise Nation in bid to BCR for RBS Remedies funds
Funding Xchange partners with Enterprise Nation in bid to BCR for RBS Remedies funds
Funding Xchange, the finance platform powering MoneySuperMarket’s business finance channel, connecting Monzo business customers to more than 80 lenders and embedding access to finance in accounting platforms, is partnering with Enterprise Nation in a bid for funding from BCR Pool E.
If successful, leading small business support network, Enterprise Nation will use Funding Xchange’s digital finance platform technology to build the Enterprise Nation Finance Portal. The new lending tool would then help the tens of thousands of small businesses that already look to Enterprise Nation for advice, to access the funding they need to grow their businesses.
This week, Enterprise Nation announced it had partnered with Amazon to launch a major support package for 200,000 small businesses and start-ups across the UK called the Amazon Small Business Accelerator to include free e-learning, virtual events, services and support to start, grow and accelerate.
The Enterprise Nation Finance Portal would include access to funding through online learning tools backed up by a network of 10,000+ advisers across the UK. The focus would be on helping young and micro businesses build the foundation that will allow them to access funding and advice to reach their potential efficiently.
Katrin Herrling, CEO of Funding Xchange said: “Traditionally, bank managers played an important part in supporting the local business community with advice and guidance through the different growth stages. With the reduction of frontline staff and the rise of digital lenders that are excellent at making funding available to those businesses that are ready to access finance, this has left a gap. The Enterprise Nation Finance Portal will fill this gap by providing the much needed access to tools and advisers – as well as access to finance solutions.”
Emma Jones, Founder and Chief Executive of Enterprise Nation said: “Adding the Enterprise Nation Funding Finance Portal to the overall Enterprise Nation platform would make a huge difference to many of the businesses that look to us for help and support. Funding Xchange is already doing amazing things to plug the funding gap, and with the support of the RBS Remedies fund, we could do so much more to help businesses at this critical time.”
Current research from Funding Xchange indicates that many smaller and early stage businesses needing loans and overdrafts to run their businesses are unable to access them through the high street banks. At the same time many do not qualify for the government supported Bounce Back loans. The Enterprise Nation Finance Portal, in conjunction with Funding Xchange, would help these businesses access the finance they need from digital and challenger banks, and alternate lenders, on market terms and with no commission costs.
The RBS Remedies Pool E arose from £50m of the initial allocations being returned by Metro Bank and a further £50m being returned from Nationwide.
ENDS
About Enterprise Nation
Enterprise Nation is a small business network and business support provider. Its aim is to help people turn their good ideas into great businesses – through expert advice, events, acceleration, diagnostics and networking. Enterprise Nation was founded in 2005 by Emma Jones MBE, also co-founder of national enterprise campaign StartUp Britain. She is author of best-selling business books including Spare Room Startup, Working 5 to 9, Go Global, Start a Business for £99 and the StartUp Kit, Going for Growth. In 2018, Richard Harpin, the entrepreneur behind global home emergency repair firm HomeServe, invested in the company as part of a drive to create a ‘more entrepreneurial Britain.’