Increasing access to growth funding

Caple and BTG Advisory join forces to help businesses access unsecured debt funding

Alternative credit specialist Caple and professional services firm BTG Advisory announce partnership to help UK businesses access unsecured lending.

SMEs typically have difficulty raising money without assets to put up as security to banks, making personal guarantees or diluting their ownership by issuing equity.

Now, through their partnership, Caple and BTG Advisory will help businesses access long-term unsecured debt finance of between £500,000 and £5 million.

Caple is the first in the UK to provide access to unsecured lending based on the future cash flows of the SME.  The business requires no collateral or personal guarantees as security.  The loans are designed to complement existing bank lending.

Dominic Buch, co-founder and managing partner of Caple, said: “Options for genuinely unsecured debt for SMEs are limited in the UK.  While banks can fund an amount that reflects the tangible assets in a business, they can’t help if a SME has no further assets.

“In an asset-light economy such as the UK, this creates a barrier to growth and may push businesses to issue equity instead of raising debt.  By complementing traditional bank lending, Caple is able to support a blend of funding that delivers stable and long-term financing to support SME growth.  Our partnership with BTG Advisory will help achieve this.”

Caple originates loans through a local partner network of business advisory and accountancy firms, such as BTG Advisory.

Supported by Caple’s proprietary technology platform, BTG Advisory assesses the eligibility of its clients for funding.  It also prepares business plans and financial forecasts that make the case for funding.

The partnership is part of BTG Advisory’s goal to strengthen its tailored funding solutions offer.  BTG Advisory has also appointed three experienced funding experts to its corporate solutions team to work alongside Caple and help its clients access unsecured lending.

David Smithies, Stephen Couldwell and Andy Chaffer join BTG Advisory with a wealth of experience in corporate and commercial banking and significant knowledge of the UK funding market.

Karl Hodson, director – corporate solutions at BTG Advisory, said: “Caple is unique in the UK in offering access to genuinely unsecured long-term loans at fairly priced rates for the size of the loan.  Through our partnership with Caple and our new hires, our aim is to help successful, established businesses to access the funding they need to grow and succeed.”

The loans Caple facilitates are part of BNP Paribas Asset Management’s SME Alternative Financing direct lending platform, which enables SMEs to access funding from institutional investors.  BNP Paribas Asset Management aims to provide €1bn per year in funding to SMEs across Europe and €400m in the UK.