‘Brussels freezes our UK start-ups.’ Chris Manson, Newable CEO.
Small companies have quietly been cut off from the key European fund, the European Investment Fund, that encourages financial institutions to lend to them.
Newable CEO Chris Manson was quoted in The Sunday Times yesterday. In a piece by Peter Evans, the papers Small Business Editor, Chris highlighted the struggle UK companies are facing to access key lending lines to support their growth as a result of practical changes to the European Investment Fund. The InnovFin SME guarantee encourages lenders to finance high-risk companies by guaranteeing to cover some of the losses if a loan defaults. This, the paper reports, is no longer providing funds to UK based businesses. Chris is quoted as saying “Technically speaking, the EIF is still open to UK companies, but effectively the door has been slammed”.
In response, as a champion of business growth, Newable continues to expand the range of funding it provides to SMEs. Newable offers unsecured loans from £25,000 – £150,000, has launched a local lending platform which provides businesses with property backed finance from £150,000 – £10m and later this month launches an EIS Investment Fund which is targeting a £5m raise.