// INDUSTRY UNLOCKED
“
MOST BUSINESSES , CERTAINLY IN THE UK AND
NORTH AMERICA , FAIL BECAUSE
OF A LACK OF WORKING
CAPITAL .
How is the financial marketplace changing and developing ?
The whole of the finance marketplace , from consumer to SME , is changing dramatically , with new propositions like this all over the world . There are huge changes as we all get used to effectively having everything under our thumbprint on our phones .
Clear Factor claims to help SMEs gain access to affordable working capital solutions ; how do you ensure you deliver on this ?
There are financial institutions , pension / investment funds for example , that want to help SMEs with funding , but have no way of accessing the market . What they need is somebody , like Clear Factor , who can assess the risk of the individual , small business , distribute that capital to them and provide a return for the pension fund . And , most importantly , cash for the SME . So , it ’ s a win for the investment funds where they can get much better yields than lending to bigger companies , and it ’ s a win for the SME as well .
How can Clear Factor ’ s invoice ecosystem help SMEs globally ?
The same problem exists all over the world . I ’ ve lent money in South America , North America , Asia and Europe with the same structural challenges and a lack of investment in digital capability to serve the smallest businesses . You need different solutions for different countries , but the same principal problems exist everywhere .
Invoice finance as a lending tool exists all over the world , so it ’ s not as though it ’ s a new proposition . It ’ s been around for thousands of years , but grew in the latter half of the 20th century to be a large market . Most of the players were larger banks doing larger lending in that space , rather than building out the proposition for micro and small businesses .
How does this type of FinTech help business strategy and growth for SMEs ?
Most businesses , certainly in the UK and North America , fail because of a lack of
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