iwoca Secures £200 Million Funding to Meet SME Demand

  iwoca

One of Europe’s largest SME lenders, iwoca, has secured a new debt facility with commitments of £200 million from Barclays and Värde Partners. This comes at a time when high-street banks are reducing access to capital for SMEs, thus increasing the importance of alternative lenders like iwoca.

Bridging the SME Funding Gap

As high-street banks continue to reduce SME funding, SMEs are increasingly relying on alternative lenders. iwoca’s new funding line ensures that it is well-equipped to meet the growing demand for working capital from SMEs. According to the company’s Q2/23 SME Expert Index, 84% of brokers noted that high street banks are reducing their appetite for funding SMEs. Moreover, 81% of SME finance experts predict an increase in the demand for finance for SMEs by year-end.

Supporting a Range of Sectors

Since its launch in 2012, iwoca has lent over £2.5bn across more than 120,000 business loans in the UK and Germany. The lender is set to end the year having doubled the number of small business loans it has funded compared to 2021. The top-funded sectors to date include construction (15% of total funding), retail (11%), and manufacturing & food production (10%).

iwoca’s Commitment to SMEs

iwoca CEO and co-founder, Christoph Rieche, expressed the company’s commitment to supporting SMEs during uncertain times. He believes the new funding will better position iwoca to help SMEs in the UK and Germany, especially given the economic uncertainty.

On the other hand, Aneek Mamik, from Värde Partners, praised iwoca’s sourcing and underwriting capabilities, which provide access to a high-quality portfolio of commercial businesses.

Innovative Lending Technology

iwoca’s embedded lending technology, which allows businesses to access loans directly through platforms such as accountancy software apps and digital neo-banks, is reaching nearly 3 million businesses across the UK and Germany. In addition to its Flexi-Loan, the lender offers an omni-channel B2B payment solution – iwocaPay, and a Revenue-Based Loan which was launched with eBay in 2022.