SME lender launches £100m fund

ThinCats, the fintech lender for mid-sized SMEs, has launched a £100m funding programme for private equity backed businesses.

ThinCats, which has offices in Birmingham, Leicestershire, Sheffield and London, says it has close to £1bn of capital to invest and is seeing increasing demand from private equity backed businesses to fund larger sized deals up to £15m.

The programme follows a series of recent loans delivered by Dave Sherrington, regional head of sales at ThinCats, to businesses in partnership with leading private equity houses.

In January, ThinCats provided a £5m funding package for Flat Iron, a restaurant chain backed by consumer brands specialist Piper.

ThinCats has also worked with Revolve Technologies to help fund its retail and US expansion, backed by Rockpool Investments

Damon Walford, CDO at ThinCats, said: “Our mission is to level the playing field for British businesses whose growth ambitions are being held back by traditional lending models. We have helped a number of private equity houses with both portfolio businesses and new investments over the past year and this new funding programme will provide valuable transparency, clarity and structure to support entrepreneurs with their immediate and longer-term growth plans.”

Anthony Francis, partner at Rockpool,  said: “It is encouraging to see ThinCats partnering with private equity houses to support SMEs that have often found it challenging to access appropriate credit solutions. Their approach should benefit British entrepreneurs looking for investment to grow. We look forward to working with ThinCats to support ambitious and innovative business across the UK.”

Piper partner Peter Kemp-Welch added: “We are increasingly seeing alternative funders in this space and enjoyed working with ThinCats. Their team really understood Flat Iron’s ambitions and built a package to support the business’s growth. We welcome this news and will continue to work together to support the next generation of entrepreneurs.”

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