Barclays is the first UK bank participating in a programme of this kind and has signed up as part of its on-going commitment to SME growth in the UK.

The purpose of the programme is to give eligible GfW partners access to low-interest financing, allowing them to finance strategic growth initiatives, hire additional staff, and invest in future expansion.

Matt Tuck, Head of Global Corporate Banking at Barclays commented: “This programme will give SMEs the chance to invest and grow. I am pleased that we are able to partner with Google for Work to provide this innovative financing solution that will help smaller businesses accelerate their expansion. We look forward to exploring how we can further work with our Global Corporate clients to support sustainable economic growth in the UK by identifying new ways to help smaller companies prosper and develop.”

Partners of the GfW scheme also commented:

As James Doggart, CEO of Cloud Technology Solutions, UK put it: “The Strategic Growth Fund is a great example of how Google is investing in its premier partners. Funding is a limited factor to growth, but it's a double edged sword: funding needs to be affordable and growth needs to follow fairly quickly. We have seen our UK Google business double in the last 12 months so believe the time is right to accelerate that further. The lending program allows this to happen, we are able to invest in areas and markets now rather than having to wait.”

An important feature of the program is that it enables sustainable growth. According to Michael Carter from Netpremacy UK: “The Strategic Growth Fund provides an attractive growth opportunity, The initial investment will support our increase in headcount within our strategic account teams providing greater customer reach and awareness. Under a second phase we will expand our service teams, maintaining a consistently high quality customer experience. The programme strengthens a deep relationship between Netpremacy/AppsCare and Google, whilst facilitating growth.”