Funding Options will operate as a separate brand within Tide, with work underway to merge Tide’s existing credit intermediation business with Funding Options. This part of the business is being led by Funding Options CEO, Simon Cureton, and is now called Tide Partner Credit Services.

The addition of Funding Options will give Tide’s more than 475,000 members (representing approximately 9% of the UK market share of SMEs) access to more credit options. Over time, members will be able to use Funding Options’ panel of more than 120 lender partners, creating a major new marketplace for SME credit in the UK.

Founded in 2011, Funding Options is a leader in SME credit intermediation. Since 2013, companies have accessed more than £700 million in vital funding via Funding Options. Businesses can raise from thousands to millions of pounds for a variety of purposes - including working capital, growth finance or even just to help them through a difficult trading patch.

Oliver Prill, CEO, Tide, said: “With challenging macroeconomic conditions driving a wave of business consolidation in the market, the addition of Funding Options to Tide means we can provide our members with more ways of accessing credit. Working with Simon and his team, our plans to scale our credit intermediation business will serve this real and rising need for funding. As Tide grows in the UK and globally, we’re looking at further acquisitions to accelerate our growth and add to the services and products we offer our members.”

Simon Cureton, CEO, Funding Options, said: “The combined capabilities of Tide and Funding Options as it relates to SME finance is phenomenal. As part of Tide, our ability to do what we do best - help businesses gain access to finance - is going to be turbo-charged, not only in the UK but also as we move into new markets. We’ll be at the forefront of the sector, driving innovation in technology, new products, new services and new features that will make a huge difference to our customers.”