SMEs can now obtain finance directly through their accountancy software, as a new partnership with KashFlow and leading peer-to-peer lending platform MarketInvoice comes into force. The deal, which gives small and medium sized enterprises access to investors direct from their accountancy software, is the latest move to signify the importance of the accountancy world in the rapid rise of alternative finance.

The partnership aims to help SMEs access finance more quickly and more easily than ever before. More than half (52 per cent) of small businesses are reported to find the availability of credit to be “poor” or “very poor^[1].”

“SMEs are being squeezed for credit options as their pool of traditional lenders is shrinking and becoming more reluctant to provide loans,” says John Coldicutt, CMO of KashFlow. “In the meantime, the UK’s alternative finance market has grown 140 per cent this year already. Unpaid invoices are the bane of many smaller businesses and can even dictate whether a company can continue. The combination of KashFlow and MarketInvoice now not only identifies where businesses are owed money but allows them to recoup finances on the same day.”

Anil Stocker, Co-founder and CEO of MarketInvoice, said:

“Alternative finance is all about making life easier for business owners. With this partnership we can offer Kashflow users access to finance with just three-clicks of a mouse. With this kind of fast, flexible invoice finance, businesses have a genuine alternative to an overdraft facility, which banks have been scaling back in recent years.”

KashFlow’s innovative online accounting software has long made bookkeeping and accounts easier for business owners and managers. The new partnership with MarketInvoice will provide a further boost to cash-flow, as by using MarketInvoice, businesses can upload and sell invoices on the peer-to-peer platform, giving same day access to funds otherwise tied up in unpaid invoices. Since launch in 2011, nearly £300m of invoices have been traded through MarketInvoice.

KashFlow users connect their accounts with the MarketInvoice application form in just three clicks. With all relevant data in one place, the application process is vastly improved and MarketInvoice can reach a lending decision in only 20 minutes. In addition, once businesses are approved to use MarketInvoice, they can continue to sell invoices online to their pool of investors through KashFlow.

[1] Federation of Small Business