The funding will allow the fintech lender to support thousands more SMEs with their recently introduced Nucleus Business Loan product
Nucleus Commercial Finance (NCF) has announced up to £200m in new funding from NatWest to bolster its core unsecured lending product, the Nucleus Business Loan (NBL).
NatWest’s funding brings Nucleus’ total funding to £900m, helping them inch ever closer to surpassing their £3 billion lent milestone since launching 12 years ago. This new funding line from NatWest will enable NCF to continue supporting the UK’s economic backbone through its short and long-term unsecured loan product, with 2,000+ small and medium-sized businesses potentially benefiting directly from this new funding facility alone.
SMEs across the UK can access up to £2m through a Nucleus Business Loan and receive a decision in minutes thanks to the fintech lender’s AI-powered automated underwriting system. With insolvencies at the highest level since 2009, this could prove a genuine lifeline for UK SMEs.
Nucleus will use the facility with NatWest to increase its flexibility and drive innovation, offering more competitively priced funding to UK SMEs at speed while providing the structure businesses need to withstand downside risks and adverse market conditions.
Nucleus Commercial Finance CEO, Chirag Shah, comments: ‘There has been a significant funding gap in the UK for several years, leaving SMEs struggling to meet their full potential through lack of access to financing.
“With innovation a top priority for fintech lenders, businesses are now finally able to seamlessly secure the funding they need to thrive. Through investments in tech, including embracing AI and the Open Banking/Open Accounting initiatives, we’ve managed to overhaul our entire lending process and now 96% of our decisions are made in under one minute.
‘Nucleus Business Loans provide a viable and accessible alternative, delivering the finance SMEs need to grow, with the speed and terms suited to their needs. Our straightforward approach to securing funding means that we can work with SMEs to provide the financial boost required to unlock their ambitions, by ensuring that they have the right finance in place for the future.
‘This funding is also fantastic news for Nucleus as a business, as well as our customers. It reinforces our role as a true alternative to high street banks, opening the potential to work with more businesses across sectors and sizes and to branch into the support of larger businesses, which we believe are currently underserved.”
Klaus Fister, Managing Director, Speciality Finance at NatWest:
“NatWest is very pleased to support Nucleus Commercial Finance (NCF) in their new stage of business development through this transaction. We are happy to see that this lending facility contributes towards NatWest’s purpose to support small and medium sized businesses in the UK to grow and thrive, along with the wider UK economy.”
