Frequently Asked Questions
Platfi Ltd, trading as Capitalise, is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority for regulated credit agreements.
Capitalise provides an easy way for businesses to access lenders and compare their products. Our advanced platform makes intelligent matches and ranks lenders, based on their past successes, to help businesses select the best funding solution.
With so many lending institutions and platforms available, it’s difficult to know which are the most appropriate lenders for your business requirements. Establishing which lenders are a good fit and filling out multiple application forms is hugely time consuming. Capitalise takes the burden out of searching and applying.
Capitalise will only facilitate lending to sole traders where the use of the borrowing is solely for the use of their business. Capitalise is unable to help with respect to consumer lending, for example lending for the purpose of a buy to let property.
No. Capitalise does not offer advice but instead it utilises information about your company and matches it to the criteria of lenders from the traditional, independent and alternative finance sectors.
The platform is designed to streamline the application process in the fastest, most transparent way possible. It provides a platform for collaboration between SMEs, lenders and if you choose, your advisor such as an accountant.
Applications submitted through the Capitalise platform have a higher success rate when all relevant accounting data is presented and product choice has been discussed with an individual who is familiar with both your business and the financial products available.
All UK businesses, from all sectors, your company status (Sole trader, Limited liability partnership or Limited company) may play a role in the type of lender presented.
It's easy. Simply fill out a brief application form and you will be matched to several lenders who meet your borrowing criteria. The process can take as little as 2 minutes to complete.
No. Capitalise is not a lender. It is a software company functioning as an independent aggregator, facilitating applications and collaboration with lenders and advisors. All lending and subsequent payments are strictly between the lender and the business.
Capitalise uses a variety of data sources to ensure the needs of our clients are served whilst operating within regulatory legislation. These sources include information provided by the business and in some cases public information, made available by companies such as Creditsafe to pre-populate your application.
In addition, by signing in with another platform, such as a cloud accounting package like Xero, Capitalise will incorporate relevant data into the application. Where you have signed in with another platform, your username and password is never made available to Capitalise.
The matching algorithm will put the business in contact with the most appropriate lenders. The lenders will in turn undertake due diligence to confirm that the introduction was suitable and that the information provided is in good order prior to lending.
A number of lenders will require personal guarantees. Others may require business debentures, security over stock or other assets depending on your business type.
You need to be a UK company, LLP or sole trader. Depending on the type of company you are, you may be eligible to borrow from the start if you have invoiced other invoices, or four months after the start of the business if you have a PDQ machine. More traditional lending typically requires more of a trading history.
Typically from £25k+. Smaller amounts are possible in certain products.
Yes. UK does not include the Channel Islands.
Information is confidential to the platform and the lenders it works with, operating under the data protection act at all times. Capitalise is ICO registered. Please click the following link to review our privacy policy.
No. As a business, you can apply directly through Capitalise.com. However, Capitalise is a collaborative platform designed to remove the administration of application enabling you to discuss only the relevant points with an advisor / accountant i.e. what products, how much etc.
There are no fees charged to the business. However, on a successful outcome, a commission will be paid by the lender to Capitalise. Where an introducer is using the Capitalise network, there maybe a share of this commission paid to the introducer. Commission rates are at market rates or lower and will be illustrated throughout the process.
To complete your application, Capitalise will just need basic company and accounting information. Examples may include:
- Name and address
- Company details
- Filed accounts (where available)
- Most recent management accounts
- Director history
Depending on which product you select, you might need to provide additional information. For instance, invoice discounting will require debtor information, merchant cash advance will require PDQ details, etc
There might be an auction process but not on Capitalise.com. The auction process might take place after a successful introduction has been made to an alternative finance provider. As well as traditional and independent lenders, Capitalise works with alternative lenders and some of these lenders fund through a marketplace. If this is the case, you will be made aware of this long before it goes to auction.
This depends on the product but it can be as short as 15 days and as long as 5 years.
This also depends on the product. The money could get into the account as soon as the same day the loan is approved or it could take up to several weeks. The more complex the due diligence then the longer the time frame.
We work with multiple lenders who provide a variety of lending products including:
- Invoice Discounting (Single/Selective and Factoring Facilities)
- Working Capital
- Asset finance
- Trade Finance
- Merchant Cash Advance
- Term Loans (some exclusions may apply)
Platfi Ltd, trading as Capitalise, is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority for regulated credit agreements.
Capitalise will only present businesses that fit the lender criteria as entered on the Capitalise platform. You can manage this criteria and update it at any time through the Capitalise lender widget.
Capitalise will only facilitate lending to sole traders where the use of the borrowing is solely for the use of their business. Capitalise is unable to help with respect to consumer lending, for example lending for the purpose of a buy to let property.
As information is entered manually or digitally aggregated (public and permissioned by the SME) by a business, the logic within the platform directs the business to you, as an appropriate lender, based on the criteria you've set within the platform.
Capitalise enables you to progress an application faster and more collaboratively than ever before. Your application requirements are reflected to the business and these are populated manually or by pulling their data from the digital networks we work with and are permissioned for.
No, however the platform has been built to facilitate an accountant introduction, or for a business to invite their accountant to help with the application.
The platform is integrated with a number of cloud accounting packages such as Xero. As long as the business permissions access, management accounts will be visible to the lender.
Capitalise collects data from CreditSafe and will present this information in the application. No consumer credit scoring is ever done.
There are two methods of notification. Through the onboarding process, we will have set up users at the lender. The users will have access to the platform and so can receive notifications within their account. In addition, an email will be sent to the lender outlining new leads as well as identifying where a current application needs updating.
As well as notifications, a lender can log into their account and view a dashboard, which provides metrics about an individual application as well as collectively across all active and past applications. Metrics will be also be presented on a portfolio basis.
In accepting a lead, you will progress the application through the platform making necessary requests for information online. At the point where you progress the lead offline, you are required to notify Capitalise via the platform whether or not an executed loan / offer has been made along with the size and tenure of the loan. This information will be verified with the business in parallel.
Please note: You MUST NOT undertake a consumer credit check on a director unless you have notified the business per our terms and conditions
Capitalise maintains a strict confidentiality practice (see our privacy policy). Data provided by the business is shared only with verified lenders who have accepted the lead for the purpose of introduction for borrowing purposes. If a lender declines the lead, they will not receive the application data.
Platfi Ltd, trading as Capitalise, is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority for regulated credit agreements.
Capitalise provides an easy way for businesses to access lenders and compare their products. Our advanced platform makes intelligent matches and ranks lenders, based on their past successes, to help businesses select a suitable funding solution.
With so many lending institutions and alternative funding platforms available, it's difficult to know which are the most appropriate lenders for your business requirements. Establishing which lenders are a good fit and filling out multiple application forms is hugely time consuming. Capitalise takes the burden out of searching and applying.
No. Capitalise is not a lender. It is a software company functioning as an independent aggregator, facilitating applications and collaboration with lenders and advisors. All lending and subsequent payments are strictly between the lender and the business.
Capitalise will only facilitate lending to sole traders where the use of the borrowing is solely for the use of their business. Capitalise is unable to help with respect to consumer lending, for example lending for the purpose of a buy to let property.
Capitalise will run electronic checks to validate information provided. These initial checks are at the company level and do not leave any trace / footprint on your credit history. Capitalise will never undertake a consumer credit check. However, some of the lenders in the course of their due diligence might.
No. Capitalise does not offer advice but instead it utilises information about your company and matches it to the criteria of lenders from the traditional, independent and alternative finance sectors.
The platform is designed to streamline the application process in the fastest, most transparent way possible. It enables collaboration between an introducer and a business to facilitate the application with multiple lenders.
All introducers will be vetted to better understand the nature of their business and whether they have any statutory regulation. This will involve a short conversation with an account manager who will be your point of contact.
You can introduce any UK Limited business for any product on the platform.
Assuming your are functioning in an advisory role, such as an accountant, your input will provide a higher rate of application success. The administration typically involved in this process is removed and therefore you can provide value add services to your client.
There are two notification methods - either in the notification center in the platform or via an email. The email will form part of the setup process.
The matching algorithm will put the business in contact with the most appropriate lenders. The lenders will in turn undertake due diligence to confirm that the introduction was suitable and that the information provided is in good order prior to lending.
As well as notifications, you will have access to an introducers dashboard. This provides metrics both about an individual application and collectively across all active and past applications. Metrics will be also be presented on a portfolio basis.
The process is simple. By going to capitalise.com, you can complete a brief application form on behalf of your client. The platform requires you to confirm that you have your client's permission to apply on their behalf and they will then be notified of the application.
Once the application is submitted, the information provided will form the basis of a match to several lenders who have the borrowing criteria to match your client's profile.
Capitalise uses a variety of data sources to ensure the needs of our clients are served whilst operating within regulatory legislation. These sources include information provided by the business and in some cases public information, made available by companies such as Creditsafe, to pre-populate your application.
In addition, by signing in with another platform, such as a cloud accounting package like Xero, Capitalise will incorporate that into the application. Where you have signed in with another platform, your username and password is never made available to Capitalise.
Capitalise will run electronic checks to validate information provided. These initial checks are at the company level and do not leave any trace / footprint on your credit history. Capitalise will never undertake a consumer credit check. However, some of the lenders in the course of their due diligence might.
There are no fees for using Capitalise.
Depending on your status as an introducer, commission is payable on successful loans introduced. Please email sales@capitalise.com for more information.
Please refer to our terms and conditions.