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MarketInvoice is a business finance lender to UK companies, specialising in invoice finance, loans, and contract finance. Their express purpose is to provide working capital solutions to support businesses waiting on long payment terms by advancing funds against their invoices, enabling businesses to achieve their growth ambitions.

Established as one of the first UK fintech companies in 2011, the company created a tech platform that, for the first time, enabled businesses to get funding for selective invoices on outstanding terms. The platform connects UK companies with investors looking to seek exposure to the UK SME asset class.

MarketInvoice is Europe’s premier online invoice finance lender, having provided over £2.5b in invoice finance facilities to the UK companies.

The company achieved a landmark industry-first partnership when Barclays Bank became the first UK high street bank to partner with a fintech company to help their business customers. It is a partnership that is set to transform the way UK companies manage cash flow and accelerate growth.

Founders
The company was initially founded by Anil Stocker, Ilya Kondrashov, and Charles Delingpole. Anil Stocker has served as CEO since the company began and Ilya Kondrashov as MD. Giles Andrews was appointed the first Chairman of the company in 2017.

Kondrashov has overseen the product, risk, legal and finance functions at MarketInvoice. He is focussed on the future strategic direction of the company. His background is in financial services having worked at various institutions, notably at Goldman Sachs. Ilya read Economics at Cambridge University in 2007.

Anil and Ilya met each other whilst studying, the duo were named ‘FinTech Kings’ in City A.M. in 2014.

History
MarketInvoice was established in the heart of the financial crisis in 2011 when bank lending had dried up for UK businesses. Not only had getting finance become very difficult, but large corporate clients were also extending payment terms to these businesses so they were waiting longer to be paid. MarketInvoice was created to remedy this double crunch facing businesses.

Since launching, MarketInvoice provided over £2.5b to UK companies in invoice finance facilities.

Today, in 2019, MarketInvoice has raised £45.8m in equity funding from Barclays, Santander InnoVentures, European venture capital fund Northzone (invested in Klarna, iZettle and Trustpilot), private equity group MCI Capital (also invested in iZettle, Azimo and Gett) and Viola Credit.

Business model
MarketInvoice's platform enables UK business owners to source funding against invoices on long payment terms. Once registered, they simply upload their invoice(s) to the platform, and this is matched with an investor who provides the funding. This gives businesses instant liquidity and the buyers – a healthy return.

The platform is underpinned by a risk model which analyses data from a variety of sources (such as accounting software, Companies House, credit agencies amongst others) providing a risk assessment and credit score for any given invoice. It is then matched with the investment appetite of the pool of investors, when funding is released to the company seeking funds.