Liberis, a UK-based embedded business finance platform has received an additional £140M in financing from Barclays Bank PLC and BCI Finance to support its global partner expansion and growth plans over the next two years. This brings Liberis’ total funding raised to £350M, including more than £80M in equity funding. In December 2021 Barclays led a £34M funding round for Liberis.
Finance Solutions
Liberis’s new funds will help the company grow its platform in order to provide more small businesses with fair and flexible financial options through their global partners.
London-based firm Liberis was established in 2007 by Rob Straathof, Charles Mindenhall and Manoj Badale. Its platform utilizes machine learning to determine a borrower’s risk profile and determine the most suitable funding options. This enables Liberis to process nearly $1 billion in loans for over 50,000 small businesses in the UK, Europe and the United States.
Partners At Play
Liberis’ global partner network includes e-commerce platforms like Klarna and acquirers like Barclaycard, Worldpay, Clover and Global Payments. These partners collaborate with Liberis to facilitate small to medium sized businesses’ payments. These are called Personalised Revenue-Based Financing, and up to 1M companies can apply. The funding can be up to £1M, and payments are linked to their transactions— making it easier for them to pay according to their income.
Aside from Barclays and BCI Finance, Liberis has investors from Blenheim Chalcot in the UK and FTV Capital in the US. Additionally, many other growth investors have backed the project.
Rob Straathof, CEO of Liberis, said the following: “The COVID-19 pandemic has created a significant funding gap for SMEs around the world. This opportunity will allow Liberis to continue assisting the growth of SMEs across the globe. Funding from this deal will provide crucial support for partnering firms to fund their SME customers.”
According to Sean White, MD of Barclays’ Securitised Products Solutions, Barclays is pleased to provide Liberis with additional funding through a new senior warehouse facility. This will allow the business to grow at a faster rate and continue supporting smaller SMEs with their funding needs.
Sam Kemp is the Managing Director of BCI Finance. He said, “We’ve been partnered with Liberis since 2015 and are happy to continue supporting its growth. As an alternative funding source, Liberis reduces the barriers to working capital funding for small and medium sized businesses. This is especially important during unstable economic times when many businesses struggle to obtain necessary funding. We’re excited to work with the Liberis team as they continue to expand their global presence.”
