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business . Simon Featherstone , Non-Executive Chair at Clear Factor tells Intelligent SME . tech about why there ’ s

What is the mission or founding principles of Clear Factor ?

The founding mission and vision of Clear Factor is to democratise access of finance to the smallest end of the SME sector through the provision of a digital invoice finance solution that brings capital markets pricing to micro-SMEs to allow them to access cash in seconds through their devices .

Why is there a gap in the market for specialist financial services for SMEs ?

In older banks , which have older systems , there ’ s been lots of developments in new finance propositions . But they ’ ve not been able to take out the processing , operational and the risk costs of lending to the smaller end of the SME marketplace . So they ’ ve helped with access at the larger end of the SME scale , but certainly not at the micro and small end .

What we ’ ve built is the world ’ s first end-toend digital single invoice finance solution . So , a microbusiness could be raised an invoice for £ 500 for that month ; then put it onto our platform and get access to 85 % of that cash immediately , for a small fee . When the invoice is paid by the debtor , the SME gets the remaining balance less our fee and finance cost . It makes cash flow planning for small businesses so much easier .

But crucially , they ’ re not tied into long contracts that the traditional invoice finance industry does .

What are some of the key challenges SMEs are navigating when it comes to managing finances ?

The benefits of larger banks , but also the downsides of larger banks . One of them is that more small businesses are pushed into call centres ’ long wait times , dealing with a lack of expertise on the phone to be able to understand cash flow issues or suggest specialist solutions to help – and the challenge with that is the cost of delivering them .

The digital end-to-end solution takes those costs out . It ’ s easy , quick and very affordable for businesses to be able to access finance in a way they ’ ve never been able to before .

IT ’ S EASY , QUICK AND VERY AFFORDABLE FOR MICRO BUSINESSES TO BE ABLE TO ACCESS FINANCE IN A WAY THEY ’ VE NEVER BEEN ABLE TO BEFORE .