British Business Bank increases Simply’s facility under ENABLE Funding programme
Simply, the non-bank SME lender, today announced a fourth financing tranche from the British Business Bank to add to its existing ENABLE Funding facility. In total, the four rounds of financing will provide more than £230m of funding to smaller businesses across the UK. This is now the largest facility under the Bank’s ENABLE Funding programme, which aims to improve the supply of asset and lease finance to smaller UK businesses.
Simply was formed in April 2017 in response to the need for innovation and disruption in the asset finance sector. It has become the fastest-growing lessor and equipment finance company in the UK. It now employs over 100 people and has supported over 3500 customers since it was founded.
Launched in 2014, the ENABLE Funding programme supports the Bank’s objective to diversify finance markets for smaller UK businesses. Providers of finance to smaller businesses often lack the scale required to access capital markets – a key source of funding for lending institutions – in a cost-efficient manner. The ENABLE Funding programme warehouses newly-originated finance receivables from different originators – bringing them together into a new structure. Once the structure has sufficient scale, it will refinance a portion of its funding on the capital markets, also helping small finance providers to tap into institutional investors’ funds.
Mike Randall, CEO of Simply, said: “We are proud to work with the British Business Bank, helping to provide funding to as many businesses as we can. We have a commitment to bring positive change to the market and our customers. They need faster loan approvals, tailored solutions and long-term partnerships and support that will see them through good and not so good times, particularly in the current climate. With this fourth tranche of money, we are improving the supply of finance to UK firms and for critical requirements like hire purchases, finance leases and refinancing.”
Reinald de Monchy, managing director, guarantee and wholesale of the British Business Bank, said: “Smaller businesses in the UK are affected by a funding gap as many traditional providers provide cost efficient financing to only a relatively small percentage of firms. The British Business Bank developed the ENABLE Funding programme to bridge this gap by partnering with alternative and non-bank lenders, like Simply. The Bank remains committed to increasing the diversity of finance provision, and we look forward to continuing to work with Simply and other non-banks to help provide even more funding options to smaller businesses across the UK.”
Richard McDougall, partner at Cabot Square Capital, said: “We have worked with Simply since the very beginning. The company vision is simple – to lend money to entrepreneurs, family businesses and SMEs across the country to enable them to grow and prosper. And Simply does just that. The fourth round of British Business Bank funding will enable Simply to carry on doing what it does best – believing in the potential of customers and supporting them in anyway it can.”
