London, 12 December 2024
Capitalise.com, the UK based business finance platform, announces their collaboration with Plaid to bring pre-approved funding to 150,000 small businesses. Using Plaid’s market-leading open banking technology, businesses can now connect securely to their bank and receive funding offers instantly, eliminating the need for the cumbersome and error prone manual process of uploading bank statements.
In today’s ever changing economy, confident and quick access to capital is critical for business owners. With Capitalise’s Instant Offers, supported by Plaid’s open banking services, businesses can now get pre-approved by multiple lenders, accept offers and receive the funds in minutes as opposed to days if not weeks without open banking.
Bringing Plaid’s technology into Capitalise’s Instant Offers framework boosts Capitalise’s lending origination service by removing friction from the funding journeys, reducing administrative burdens for lenders and boosting conversion with fast decisions using real-time, accurate data.
According to Plaid, adoption of Open Banking technology by UK SMEs has increased by 18%* year-over-year demonstrating the need from SMEs for ease and speed when it comes to finances.
Open finance: more options for small businesses
The rise of challenger banks and alternative lenders, which now account for over 60% of new SME lending, has expanded options for business owners who now face a challenge to find and select the right provider for their needs.
“Open Banking sits at the core of SME credit decisioning and brings confidence to underwriting risk assessments. These advances, in tandem with the huge growth in private credit markets, can bring down the high cost of non-bank lending. This is good news for the UK small businesses” said Ollie Maitland, Co-Founder at Capitalise.
Capitalise’s lending marketplace of 100 lenders has grown to include 10 integrated Open Finance lenders on the Instant Offers framework, Capitalise plans to partner with more lenders in the near future.
Key benefits of Open Banking for small businesses:
- Simpler, faster application process
- Access to real-time financial data for faster loan approvals.
- Potentially lower borrowing costs through personalised rates.
“Pre-approvals have been the perfect use-case for Open Banking as a win for business owners browsing and great pre-qualification for lenders looking to lend. Plaid was a natural choice with their experience in SME lending plus their global presence” said Ollie, Co-Founder at Capitalise.
“Cash flow can be one of the biggest challenges for UK businesses. We’re delighted to be working with Capitalise to make this process smoother and faster so more businesses have access to the funding they need to thrive.” Zak Lambert, Europe Product Lead at Plaid
About Capitalise
Capitalise is a financial platform helping UK SMEs understand and control their business finance by providing business credit scores insights and simplifying access to funding. Capitalise helps businesses build and monitor their credit scores and connects them to lenders. Capitalise partners with accountants, advisors, and lenders to ensure businesses have the tools and support they need to grow. Learn more at capitalise.com.
About Plaid
Plaid is a global data and open finance network that powers the tools millions of people rely on to live a healthier financial life. Our ambition is to facilitate a more inclusive, competitive, and mutually beneficial financial system by simplifying payments, revolutionising lending, and leading the fight against fraud. Plaid works with over 8,000 companies including fintechs like Moneybox, YouLend, Western Union and several of the Fortune 500, to empower people with more choice and control over how they manage their money. Headquartered in San Francisco, Plaid’s network spans over 12,000 institutions across the UK, Europe, US, and Canada.
*Source: https://openbanking.foleon.com/live-publications/the-open-banking-impact-report-2024-march/
