It remains difficult to borrow more money from a high street bank to fund the growth of your business or to help your business through a difficult financial period. The likelihood of your bank saying no remains high and this is still the end for a number of businesses.
Is alternative finance the solution? In 2015, 20,000 SMEs received a total of £2.2bn of funding from this market yet it is still not an obvious choice for most owner managed businesses.
In a recent survey, 50% of businesses are rejected for finance by their bank within their first 5 years of trading. Don’t let a rejection stop the growth of your business!
Understanding Alternative Finance
The good news
Alternative finance continues to grow. There are a huge number of potential funders for your business away from the high street banks. Providing you have a good underlying business and/or a good asset base, then it is likely that someone out there will provide funding for your business.
The bad news
There are so many providers of alternative finance in the market to know. Each lender has their own specialisms, offerings and cost models making it difficult for a company to choose the right finance for them unless they are looking for a basic product. At Menzies we work hard to understand the market so that we can recommend the best option for our clients.
Alternative finance is also likely to come at a higher price than your traditional funding from high street banks so be prepared for some extra cost.
What types of alternative finance are out there?
- New high street banks
- Online banks
- Crowdfunding platforms
- Private equity funds
- Asset based lenders
- Unsecured finance
- Bridging finance
- Property finance
- Stock finance
- Invoice Discounting
- Factoring
The list goes on…
What should I do if I need alternative finance?
Make sure you know what financing requirements your business has and how much it can afford. We can help match you with an appropriate lender so you can concentrate on what you do best, running your business.
Posted in Blog, Healthcare, Hospitality & leisure, Manufacturing, Not-for-profit, Property & construction, Retail, Technology, Transport & logistics, Recruitment, Legal Services, Financial Services