iwoca gets accredited under the Recovery Loan Scheme

By Joy Dumasia

iwoca, one of Europe’s largest small business lenders, today announces that the British Business Bank has accredited it as a lender under the Recovery Loan Scheme (RLS). This means that, from today, iwoca will provide even more support to SMEs across the UK with accessing much-needed finance.

The Government-backed RLS supports access to finance for UK businesses as they recover and grow following the pandemic. The scheme will allow businesses to access loans of up to £10 million to help them recover, and funds can be used for any legitimate business purpose, including managing cash flow, growth and investment.

This accreditation forms part of a package of support iwoca has introduced to help small and medium-sized businesses access to finance during the pandemic. Since May 2020, iwoca has successfully lent nearly £400 million to SMEs across the UK via the CBILS, equating to around 10% of the total CBILS lending approvals market by the end of March 2021.

During the pandemic, iwoca also launched its signature invoice checkout service for SMEs – iwocaPay. This service allows businesses to make payments over a series of instalments while providing the seller with the funds upfront, helping both to manage their cash flow. In a UK industry first, iwoca then integrated this system into the accounting platform Xero.

Christoph Rieche, Co-Founder and CEO of iwoca, said: “We’re proud that we could support small businesses through the toughest of times. With CBILS alone, we lent nearly £400 million to 1,500 business owners across the country, representing 10% of the market share of approvals. As the recovery starts to get into full swing, businesses will now need more funding to take full advantage of the opportunities ahead.”

Recently, IBS Intelligence reported that iwoca, one of Europe’s largest small business lenders, has become an addition to the Open finance partnership platform mmob.