Grapple: the new fintech invoice financing company that’s kicking goals
With many industries struggling under the impact of COVID-19, a new fintech invoice financing company called Grapple, is bucking the trend, providing over $25 million in funding in over 25,000 invoices to Australian SMEs in its first 12 months of operation, with zero losses.
Backed by a team of management and operational experts with over 60 years of invoice financing experience, Grapple has been actively building up its tech team with seven new staff working on the growing platform recently.
Founder and CEO, Steve Dawson, says the time is ripe for invoice financing.
“Our non-bank lending products backed by the latest technology, are perfect for the current times,” says Dawson. “With banks tightening controls and restricting lending, SMEs that are performing well are looking elsewhere to support their growth.”
The growth of invoice financing in Australia
“Grapple has an industry-leading platform built and ready for scale. There is an enormous opportunity for invoice financing in Australia, where it represents only five percent of GDP, as compared to 14 percent in the UK.
“It’s a growing sector with over 4,000 Australian businesses putting through $65 billion of invoice financing each year, compared to $4 billion in 1996 and $18 billion in 2002. We are anticipating huge growth over the next two years and are already seeing bank-grade clients applying to use our platform.”
Invoice financing typically grows in market downturns when lending against property sharply declines. As Grapple targets SME companies trading with other companies in growing sectors, it is not exposed to the wider economy. With 98 percent of businesses falling into the small to a medium category, there is no shortage of potential customers.
“We have invested a lot of time and money in our platform to create bespoke solutions to improve the way we do business,” says Dawson. “Our fintech team has created unique software solutions to make our platform easy to use and understand. Our technology streamlines the sign-up process, risk assessments, and lending to clients.”
Win-win revolutionary funding platform consigns late payments to history
“The platform’s inbuilt flexibility gives customers various finance options, ranging from part of a single invoice, to a selection of specific invoices, right up to the financing of the whole ledger,” says Dawson. “The beauty of this approach is that we can give clients as much or as little finance as they want, and they only pay for what they use.”
Grapple’s fintech approach specializes in matching SMEs in need of finance with investors looking for a return. As an originator of loans, Grapple lends money utilizing its own tech and also sources and services SMEs who need funds for their continued growth.
Borrowers enjoy no ongoing fees and immediate access to the funds in their unpaid invoices, allowing them to take back control of their cash flow. Investors benefit with direct access to this new liquid asset class and returns of up to 8 percent p.a.
Dawson says he is excited about Grapple’s future.
“The business is growing exponentially, and we are about to move to bigger premises to fit the increasing scale of the platform and our technology team,” he says. “As a leading fintech company, operating in the high demand industry of invoice financing, the future is looking very bright.”
