SME finance provider Triver has raised £7m in a seed funding round led by Deliveroo and Zoopla backer Stride.
Triver provides businesses with short-term working capital. The company claims its service is faster and easier than high street banks.
Users of the automated platform can access funds equivalent to as much as 20% of their annual turnover. Triver said it sources transaction-level insights to determine the likelihood of a business paying back its loan.
“Existing short-term finance solutions rarely fully satisfy small businesses. Yet it’s not a simple puzzle to solve. SMEs have complex cash flow management and underwriting their credit risk automatically is very hard – it has not been a priority for banks,” said Triver founder and CEO Jerome Le Luel.
“But at Triver, we’ve cracked the code. Using open banking and artificial intelligence we are revolutionising how SMEs access finance and are partnering with digital service providers already trusted by these businesses.”
VC firm Stride was joined in the funding round by Axelo Capital, Motive Partners, Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia Capital, along with a host of angel investors.
“With millions of small businesses in the UK, there is a huge underserved market for SME finance – primarily due to antiquated lending processes,” said Fred Destin, founder of Stride VC.
“The right data and technology is now available to radically change this. With Triver we will make lending to the founders and business owners of the real economy way more efficient and economical. This is a mission we’re delighted to support.”
