A new peer-to-peer business lending platform has launched in Australia, which vows to change the way SMEs access capital, and can offer brokers competitive commission for referring their SME clients.
InvoiceBid, founded by ex-bankers Charlotte Petris and Andrew Petris, is an online marketplace for trading invoices. The P2P platform matches businesses that have invoices to sell with investors who bid against each other to offer finance to the borrower. Invoices are funded by investors who are high net worth individuals, family offices, hedge funds and
SMSFs.
Charlotte Petris, chief executive of InvoiceBid, said the P2P lender is not a traditional full factoring or whole turnover arrangement, allowing business owners to be completely in control of their own finances.
“You [SMEs] pick which invoice, you set the price, you sell it, and you bring in exactly the amount of money needed for your business,” she said.
“Because we don’t discriminate by business size or sector, we have been able to help growing businesses that have never had access to finance before. And for those that do use invoice finance, we have been able to reduce their cost of finance by up to half.”
Petris also told
Australian Broker that brokers can earn up to 40bps of on-going commission for every invoice financed.
“Our product offers a funding solution to brokers whose clients want more flexibility with no upfront or ongoing service fees,” she said.
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