SME working capital provider TRIVER has secured £2.5m from existing investors to fund further growth.
Although SMEs represent over half of UK business turnover, cash flow management is a constant problem for them. TRIVER is transforming how these businesses access short-term working capital, leveraging Open Banking data and sophisticated AI to underwrite the risk of small business borrowing instantly and automatically. Faster and more easily than high street banks, it can provide advances on a business’s client invoices 24/7, offering peace of mind of simple access to capital when needed.
The £2.5m convertible bridge loan builds on an initial £7m equity funding announced in April 2023 involving Stride VC, Andreessen Horowitz, Axeleo Capital, Motive Partners, and Sequoia Capital, and a £20m debt facility agreed last year with Luxembourg-based Avellinia Capital.
In its first year of operation, TRIVER has successfully funded more than £20m of invoices supporting over 250 UK SMEs and it is providing working capital to small businesses at world record speed. It takes just 20 minutes from initial application to account opening, to funds appearing in a business’s bank account. In comparison, banks typically take up to 4 weeks to open a facility and 24 hours to advance an invoice because of their manual processes. The company has received numerous 5-star Trustpilot reviews from small businesses using its service.
Jerome Le Luel, Founder & CEO, said: “We’re applying new tech to solve a real-world problem. SMEs are at the heart of the economy, and we want to help them flourish.
“The new funding we’ve announced is further validation of our groundbreaking solution for small business owners. Our vision remains to leverage latest technology and Open Banking data to provide SMEs with access to cashflow finance at the point of need.”
TRIVER is designed to be embedded within digital service providers already serving SMEs. These providers benefit from easy-to-integrate, automated processes that make it simpler to provide a short-term working capital solution to support their customers. They can also receive a value-share back when their customers use TRIVER’s service.
TRIVER has recently partnered with procurement platform Elcom with whom it is pioneering embedded invoice finance.
Elcom specialises in procurement services for the public sector and annually processes £15bn of supplier invoices for government departments, agencies, and public bodies, including the NHS. Its new partnership with TRIVER will enable SME suppliers to the public sector to get paid immediately, in a click. While public sector customers pay reliably, this new facility will enable SMEs to do more business with them thanks to improved cash flow, potentially transforming the sector.
William Lock, Chairman at Elcom, commented: “Working in partnership with TRIVER helps us solve one of our clients’ most common challenges. Public sector contracts can be transformative for many small businesses but delivering at scale can squeeze working capital. TRIVER is fast and easy to use and solves the funding gap. It’s a win-win. Public sector service providers can choose small, specialised and often local businesses, benefiting the local economy. Meanwhile these SMEs can now grow their businesses through significant and reliable contracts, without waiting for large invoice payments.”
A small business regularly using TRIVER’s service is Hertfordshire-based Cardans Heating. It now advances all invoice payments above the value of £1,000 to instantly increase its cash flow. This recently included a £30,000 invoice with a care home provider.
Director Dan Jordan explains: “There are enough stressful things to think about when running a business. We use TRIVER because it takes away the stress of getting paid and paying the team. We have a two-week payment run for our engineers as well as significant monthly supplier costs for materials - but our customer invoices are typically paid after 30 days, sometimes more. TRIVER is straightforward and solves a challenge that’s always there. Now, I can see a customer invoice go out and know it can be paid immediately.”
From a founding team of six, TRIVER has expanded its London-based office to 16 people spanning seven different nationalities. The team’s technical expertise and creativity is entirely focused on ensuring that cash is flowing again in the real economy.