UK-based business banking platform Tide has announced it will acquire Funding Options , a UK marketplace for business finance, subject to FCA approval. The acquisition will reportedly give Tide’s 475,000 customers access to more credit options.

As explained by Asset Financial International, Tide’s members represent a steadily growing 8% of the UK market share of SMEs. In time, members will gain access to Funding Options’ panel of over 120 lender partners, move that is aimed at creating a new marketplace for SME credit in the UK. Funding Options will continue to operate as a separate brand within Tide, while its existing credit intermediation business will be merged with Funding Options and will be led by Funding Options CEO, Simon Cureton.

Oliver Prill, Tide’s CEO has stated that a factor in the decision for this acquisition was the fact that securing finance is often an issue for small businesses, but Funding Options ensures there are no confusing products, complex application forms, and long waits. Subsequently, the Tide official disclosed that the company is considering consider further acquisitions to accelerate growth and add to the services and products portfolio. What Funding Options had to offer Founded in 2011, Funding Options focuses on SME credit intermediation and has been recognised as a fast-growth scale-up.

Since, 2013, companies have reportedly accessed more than GBP 680 million in vital funding via Funding Options. Funding Options uses a technology and data-driven lending platform, Funding Cloud which offers SMEs real-time access to a funding options and ‘near-instant credit decisions’, as explained by the company. The platform officially launched in September 2022 and it is supporting SME finance through data analytics, Open Banking APIs and artificial intelligence.

Company officials have quoted figures according to which the SME funding gap in the UK alone is estimated to be GBP 56 billion, and faster decision making as well as fairer and broader distribution is key to tackling this. UK lending scene and Tide forecast Tide issued a warning in July 2022 that the UK could be in store for a challenging business environment as one in five small business owners may not make it through the year. According to a survey of 1000 small businesses, Tide revealed that approximately 70% of businesses had to increase hours, while a third relied on friends to keep them up and running.

Rising prices are having a negative impact on businesses as they struggle to adjust. Tide reports that rising fuel and energy prices (57. 2%) dominated worries for small businesses, with inflation (22.

4%) second and supply chain issues (8. 3%) third. Tide notes that currently the inflation rate is at 9.

1% and the Bank of England has said it could go as high as 11% in 2022. Recent data from the UK Office of National Statistics show that the annual rate of inflation rose to 11. 1% in October 2022, up from 10.

1% in the 12 months to September. .