Type Private Website marketinvoice.com Headquarters London | Industry Finance and Technology Founded 2010 | |
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MarketInvoice is a business finance intermediary, which allows businesses to sell their unpaid invoices to provide working capital. It was the UK’s first online marketplace allowing companies to selectively sell outstanding invoices to raise working capital. Launched in February 2011, the platform allows small and medium-sized businesses who have outstanding invoices to trade these with institutional investors online. Investors advance cash against these future payments for a fee. As of 18 September 2015, the company has facilitated over £500 million in funding for high-growth UK businesses.
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Tom fox marketinvoice
Founders
The company was initially founded by Anil Stocker, Ilya Kondrashov and Charles Delingpole, and Anil and Ilya currently remain in the company as CEO and COO,CFO respectively. Anil has a background in private equity, working first with the Lehman Brothers Private Equity Group, and subsequently the investment bank Cogent Partners. Born in Switzerland, he studied Economics at Cambridge University. Kondrashov is Russian and also studied Economics at Cambridge, which is how they know each other. The duo were named ‘FinTech Kings’ in City AM in 2014.
History
MarketInvoice is based in London and launched in February 2011. The company was backed with £930,000 of seed finance from angel investors. By November 2013, the company was trading £10 million of invoices a month. The company was launched in a climate of macroeconomic uncertainty, where large corporates delay payments to small companies as a way to preserve cash.
System
MarketInvoice's platform allows small businesses to sell their unpaid invoices to a pool of global investors. This gives businesses instant liquidity and the buyers a healthy return. The platform is a new take on invoice finance, with the receivable being sold over an online exchange rather than bilaterally to a bank or factor.
Like many peer-to-peer lenders, the company has experienced high growth and monthly volume of invoices traded is now over £25million. In late 2014 the company raised a £5m investment from Venture Capital firm Northzone and Paul Forster, founder of Indeed.com.
Recognition
MarketInvoice was declared City AM's "Innovation of the Year" winner in 2012, as well as winner of the Institute of Credit Management's "Commercial Finance Provider of the Year" Award in 2013. MarketInvoice was a finalist for the Startups website's "Innovative Business of the Year" competition 2011 and was a finalist for Business Money Magazine's 2012 Alternative Funding Provider of the Year competition. MarketInvoice was also a finalist for Credit Today Awards Alternative Lender of the Year 2012. MarketInvoice won Best Use of Technology (Creditor) at the 2014 Credit Today Awards. The company was featured in the Smarta Breakthrough 50 as one of the 50 best breakthrough companies in June 2014.
They won Corporate Finance Provider of the Year, in March 2015 at the Business Finance Awards, and an Excellence in Customer Experience award at the Financial Innovation Awards in November 2014.
Government partnership
In August 2013, MarketInvoice was awarded £5 million in government funding to lend to small businesses through the Business Finance Partnership. The extension of the scheme, to boost finance through non-bank lenders, was announced by Vince Cable, business secretary. This deal was extended in September 2015 for a further 3 years, taking their total investment in MarketInvoice's platform to £10m.
In October 2014 the Greater Manchester Combined Authority committed £16 million per year to invest in local business through the MarketInvoice platform.