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Insights
When starting a new business, or branching out into new product development (NPD), it’s tempting to set out your plans based on a perceived ‘gap in the market’. Fans of Dragon’s Den will have seen many investment-hungry entrepreneurs having their hop read more
Author
EFM
Upcoming Informed Funding / GDPR Workshop - Tuesday 27th March The Legal Director will be providing GDPR expertise at Informed Funding's upcoming Workshop "Ahead in the Cloud: How a strategic view on the use of Business Apps and Cloud Services can read more
Author
The Legal Director
Upcoming Informed Funding / Cloud and Apps Workshop - Tuesday 27th March EFM will be providing Business App and Cloud expertise at Informed Funding's upcoming Workshop "Ahead in the Cloud: How a strategic view on the use of Business Apps and Cloud S read more
Author
EFM
Conversations about employees working from home were once very short. In those rare instances where employees did venture to enquire about the possibility, the answer was usually an automatic ‘no’. Times have changed. According to figures from the read more
Author
The Legal Director
Is a domain squatter set to steal your brand? It’s fair to say that many businesses are unprepared for the new .uk Internet domain—which is unfortunate, as from June 2019, they could find that their branding and name has been registered on it by a t read more
Author
The Legal Director
Cloud technology is enabling SME’s to start and rapidly grow and manage their businesses. There are a number of ways in which the cloud can benefit SME’s, but let’s start with a quick definition so we all know what ‘The Cloud’ is. Microsoft capture read more
Author
EFM
It’s not just accountants and bankers who need to deal with spreadsheets, numbers and the financial aspect of a business, as most business owners soon find out. As an owner or director, you will inevitably have some form of financial recording-keep read more
Author
EFM
13 Dec 2017 15:34
It’s the season for Christmas parties. And, as an employer, you may well be holding one for your staff—a Christmas party is, after all, a popular way of thanking employees for their hard work over the past year. But while your finance director will read more
Author
The Legal Director
13 Dec 2017 17:55
Financial Management can sometimes become a complex and daunting affair when you’re fully focussed on driving your business. But, it’s worth getting back to basics with some of things that all businesses can do to help improve financial performance. read more
Author
EFM
STARTING UP A BUSINESS in the current climate can be challenging, however harsh market conditions can also create opportunities for those with a well thought out, funded and researched business idea willing to enter the market. Some of the key read more
Author
EFM
An EFM case study in Venture Capital investment for an E-Commerce Start-Up For entrepreneurs with passion and great business ideas, it can be challenging to attract the investment they need. Even when initial funds have been raised, the demands read more
Author
EFM
With effect from May 25th 2018—in other words, less than a year away—your business is exposed to a new regulatory regime backed by hefty fines. And by ‘hefty’, we’re talking fines of the higher of either €20 million, or 4% of annual worldwide sales re read more
Author
The Legal Director
EFM: https://efm.uk.com/ are delighted to be supporting Informed Funding’s latest seminar, Personal Financial Strategies for Business Owners at Workspace's Grand Union Studios: https://informedfunding.com/networks/569/events.html?id=685 . Busi read more
Author
EFM
The Legal Director: http://www.thelegaldirector.co.uk/ is delighted to be supporting Informed Funding’s latest seminar, Personal Financial Strategies for Business Owners at Workspace's Grand Union Studios: https://informedfunding.com/networks/5 read more
Author
The Legal Director
EFM’s: https://efm.uk.com/ Finance Directors and Business Advisors are independent experts who can provide expert analysis and advice and hep you to make the right choices for your business. Is the role of an accountant soon to be nothing more th read more
Author
EFM
Every year, several hundred thousand new businesses are created. In 2015, according to the Office for National Statistics, the total was 383,000—the highest recorded since comparable records began in 2000. Many are sole traders, of course. But a si read more
Author
The Legal Director
The finance landscape for growing businesses has changed significantly in the UK over the last decade. It’s no longer a choice between a traditional term loan or equity finance. Lenders, particularly alternative lenders now offer a wide range of flexi read more
Author
Pay4
EFM looks at moving businesses from “bad debt” to “good debt”. : http://efm.uk.com/ Growing businesses can often be “debt-averse”, preferring to issue equity rather than borrowing under debt funding instruments. This point of view is understanda read more
Author
EFM
: http://www.thelegaldirector.co.uk/ The Legal Director: http://www.thelegaldirector.co.uk/ is delighted to be supporting Informed Funding’s latest conference, Debt Finance for Growth: https://informedfunding.com/networks/107/ifeblog_t read more
Author
The Legal Director
On 30th March, join EFM at the The Trade Finance Show From Informed Funding – The What, Who, Why & When - Finance Conference for Growing Businesses - Glaziers Hall at Bridge: https://informedfunding.com/networks/569/events.html?id=583 . Th read more
Author
EFM
Guest Blog by The Legal Director: http://www.thelegaldirector.co.uk/ On 30th March, join The Legal Director at the The Trade Finance Show From Informed Funding – The What, Who, Why & When - Finance Conference for Growing Businesses - Glaziers read more
Author
The Legal Director
It’s an understatement to say that UK plc has some interesting times ahead. Brexit just adds to the mix of competing influences on international trade– globalisation, protectionism, global warming, artificial intelligence/machine learning, super power read more
Author
Chris Dines
Do your employees know where your business is headed? The second of Steven Covey’s habits (in his methodology “7 Habits of Highly Effective People”) is to “begin with the end in mind”. The thought process behind this is that your first steps should read more
Author
EFM
Guest Blog by The Legal Director: http://www.thelegaldirector.co.uk/ The Legal Director is a legal consultancy providing businesses of all sizes with experienced, high-calibre lawyers on a part-time or flexible basis. TLD offers a transparent read more
Author
The Legal Director
The UK export market has been growing significantly year on year, with the Government pledging to double the country’s export value to £1tn by 2020. And while UK SMEs make up 99% of all businesses, fewer than 20% of SMEs export to international marke read more
Author
EFM
It's January. It's cold, wet and miserable. The gyms are packed with people who are starting as they have absolutely no intention of carrying on. And economists are caveating their predictions with everything they've got - whilst trying (and fail read more
Author
Dr Louise Beaumont
: http://www.foxwilliams.com/fintech.html 1.Brexit When Article 50 is triggered (anticipated to be in March 2017), EU regulation will continue to apply to UK financial institutions until further notice. UK law that applies to financial inst read more
Author
Jon Segal, Fox Williams
We were delighted to have Richard Heyns, Founder and CEO of Brytlyt (see www.brytlyt.com) as one of our company case studies at the recent Informed Funding seminar. Brytlyt disrupts the software technology needed for processing and analytics to greatl read more
Author
Chris Dines
: http://www.foxwilliams.com/fintech.html The last month has been notably buoyant in support for the UK FinTech industry. The Autumn Statement announced a number of initiatives geared towards encouraging the continued growth of FinTech in the UK. read more
Author
Jon Segal, Fox Williams
Regulation is defined as “a law, rule, or other order prescribed by authority, especially to regulate: http://www.dictionary.com/browse/regulate conduct.” And conduct is a really human thing… which is why I found a recent lecture by Dr Mike Walk read more
Author
Dr Louise Beaumont
Dr Louise Beaumont, Guest Blog - Squaring the circle - reconciling Brexit with Capital Markets Union
Brexit, as we all know, means Brexit That's it, we're off - so long, and thanks for all the fish(1). Looks like Prime Minister May's going to have to go to Parliament first though, as those pesky High Court judges have said that royal prerogativ read more
Author
Dr Louise Beaumont
: http://www.foxwilliams.com/fintech.html There were a couple of interesting news items this month that caught our attention. One being the speech given by Jonathan Davidson, the current Director of Supervision – retail and authorisations at the read more
Author
Jon Segal, Fox Williams
How Wirefund Aims to Reduce “Borrower Stress” An interview with Amit Sankey, Founder and CEO About Wirefund Wirefund (www.wirefund.com: http://www.wirefund.com/ ) launched in July 2016, looking to lend between £1,000 and £25,000 to UK Sm read more
Author
Chris Dines
Moving beyond the ‘Brexit means Brexit’ mantra Post-Brexit planning is ramping up as the Government starts to map out what ‘Brexit’ actually means for sectors ahead of the formal start of negotiations. Such clarity will be welcomed by regulators - af read more
Author
Dr Louise Beaumont
Chris Dines, CEO of Informed Funding Since the financial crisis of 2008, gross lending (primarily by banks) to companies with fewer than 249 employees (SMEs) has shrunk every year. The pace of shrinkage has recently dropped, though ALL companies (SM read more
Author
Chris Dines
I’m sure you’re fed up of hearing about the potential implications of Brexit and the FCA’s recent call for input on crowdfunding (if not, I’d be happy to discuss!), so I thought I would look ahead to see what other regulatory delights await regulated read more
Author
Jon Segal, Fox Williams
Dr. Louise Beaumont, Guest Blog - Scale, specialists and the squeezed middle of the alt-fi arms race
: http://www.glifinance.com/ It has been an interesting time of late for the alternative finance sector. Like all parts of financial services, the industry is coming to terms with the post-referendum landscape and what the Brexit decision me read more
Author
Dr Louise Beaumont, GLI Finance
Legal Implications of Brexit On 24 June 2016, the EU Referendum result was announced, with a majority of voters deciding that the UK should leave the EU. Once the government officially triggers its right to leave under Article 50 of the Treaty read more
Author
Jon Segal, Fox Williams
Tomorrow night, Andy Davis will be chairing another AFN seminar, this time on Sustainability in Alternative Funding (If you want to attend, simply CLICK HERE: https://informedfunding.com/networks/108/events.html?id=419 for full details). In the read more
Author
Chris Dines
I’m continuing my theme of the current realities of Crowd Funding a business. In this case, I’m sharing some thoughts garnered from Rob Morrison the CEO of Ventive: http://www.ventive.co.uk/about-us/team/ . He (or rather Crowdcube) have literally ju read more
Author
Chris Dines
20 Jun 2016 09:57
It almost feels like another age, but back in early 2013 I interviewed Jonathan Downey, Director and majority owner of Rushmore Group: http://www.rshmr.com/ . Rushmore had just raised £1.5m of cash on Crowdcube: http://www.crowdcube.com/ – by som read more
Author
Chris Dines
On 26 May, we are running a round table discussion over lunch for some members of our Alternative Funding Network (AFN), courtesy of our new AFN sponsors, Fox Williams. The theme of the lunch is the “business outlook” for the Alternative Funders thems read more
Author
Chris Dines
In talking to different funders, you get the constant message that they have plenty of cash to make use of, but that, as ever, finding the right companies to invest in, or lend to, is the challenge. When you dig a little deeper this is rarely a judgem read more
Author
Chris Dines
A note from Jon Segal at Fox Williams: “We are very pleased to be working with the Alternative Funding Network in the year ahead, following the work we did together last year. is a key location for ambitious tech businesses and the AFN has an read more
Author
Jon Segal
: http://www.glifinance.com/ 6 interesting things about creativity I read a great article by James Kaufman in the Royal Society for the Arts magazine recently. Great because I now have a new perspective on a much-discussed ‘good th read more
Author
Dr. Louise Beaumont, GLI Finance
Latest changes to P2P regulation – ISAs, Advice and Client Monies The FCA has been busy these past few weeks, issuing proposals for Innovative Finance ISAs, advising on P2P agreements and client monies. Innovate Finance ISAs The fir read more
Author
Jonathan Segal, Fox Williams
: http://www.glifinance.com/ Lord Turner’s scepticism is a helpful reminder of the need for greater industry maturation At the core of any successful industry is trust. Trust underpins confidence and is vital if an industry is to gro read more
Author
Dr Louise Beaumont, GLI Finance
Back in 2001 I took over running a business that delivered market intelligence, globally, in the technology space. Our main costs were staff, staff and staff (ok, a chunk of property and IT costs as well). It was a well-respected business with read more
Author
Chris Dines
17 Feb 2016 13:32
: https://informedfunding.com/networks/108/index.html There’s been a lot written about regulation of P2P lending firms – indeed it was the topic of our final AFN Research Seminar of 2015 in December – and many are now well into the process of read more
Author
Andy Davis
Revolution not evolution Technology. Isn’t it great! In recent years it has helped both create and nurture a number of markets which would never have thrived without it. For instance, technology has helped make pricing more transparent and acc read more
Author
Matthew Katz
AFN Guest Blog: Jonathan Segal, Fox Williams LLP - IOSCO statement on the regulation of crowdfunding
IOSCO statement on the regulation of crowdfunding On 21 December 2015, the International Organization of Securities Commissions (“IOSCO”) published a statement: http://www.iosco.org/library/pubdocs/pdf/IOSCOPD521.pdf on addressing the regula read more
Author
Jonathan Segal, Fox Williams
: http://www.glifinance.com/ What is the Northern Powerhouse? The Northern Powerhouse is the government’s vision to rebalance the UK economy by empowering the northern cities to achieve growth. According to Centre for Cities’ Nort read more
Author
Dr Louise Beaumont, GLI Finance
FCA announces new Regulatory Sandbox The Financial Conduct Authority (the “FCA”) has set out its plans: https://www.fca.org.uk/static/documents/regulatory-sandbox.pdf to expand Project Innovate by implementing a “regulatory sandbox” – a “saf read more
Author
Jonathan Segal, Fox Williams
: https://informedfunding.com/networks/108/index.html Britain is the acknowledged pioneer in online alternative finance, with many firsts to its name in both P2P, or marketplace, lending as well as in equity crowdfunding. In a number of import read more
Author
Andy Davis
: http://www.glifinance.com/ A Blessing of Unicorns…? I was in the US recently, and there was much talk of Unicorns. So much so, in fact, that I felt the need to put fingers to keyboard. What is a unicorn, and why are peop read more
Author
Dr Louise Beaumont, GLI Finance
: https://informedfunding.com/networks/108/index.html At the end of last month, P2P lending platforms had to submit their paperwork to the Financial Conduct Authority in order to gain permission to continue operating after April next year. At read more
Author
Andy Davis
: https://informedfunding.com/networks/108/index.html Ever since Funding Circle announced in late July that it planned to list an investment trust on the Stock Exchange that would participate in every loan advanced across its internatio read more
Author
Andy Davis
There are no two ways about it – the regulatory landscape in the financial services sector is evolving and the news in recent months has been awash with stories of regulatory changes that are likely to have a significant impact on FinTech and Alternat read more
Author
Jonathan Segal, Fox Williams
: https://informedfunding.com/networks/108/index.html If you bank with Barclays and you want a personal loan, there’s a good chance the bank will have “pre-approved” you on the basis of your record as a customer and will be able to show you in read more
Author
Andy Davis
: http://www.glifinance.com/ Fret not – we have solid domestic demand in the UK I attended Ernst & Young ITEM Club’s Autumn Forecast recently, and their Chief Economic Adviser, Peter Spencer was quick to let us know that the markets read more
Author
Dr Louise Beaumont, GLI Finance
: https://informedfunding.com/networks/108/index.html Evidence of collaboration between alternative finance providers and banks continues to pile up. Last week Seedrs, the UK’s second-largest equity crowdfunding platform, announced a tie-up wi read more
Author
Andy Davis
: https://informedfunding.com/networks/108/index.html LendInvest, the short-term mortgage specialist, has just put out profit figures for the year to March 31, 2015, and pretty impressive they are too: £3.1m pre-tax on revenues of £15m. The pl read more
Author
Andy Davis
The Department for Business, Innovation & Skills recently published its response to a government consultation on a proposal to nullify clauses in contracts which prohibit the assignment of invoices. BIS’s intention is to remove contractual barriers to read more
Author
Jonathan Segal, Fox Williams
: https://informedfunding.com/networks/108/index.html Some very interesting annual statistics have recently emerged from the British Venture Capital Association, in the shape of its annual Report on Investment Activity. As the UK Business Ange read more
Author
Andy Davis
: https://informedfunding.com/networks/108/index.html The AFN event last week looking at how alternative and conventional finance are starting to work together turned up a lot of interesting views from our panel of six expert practitioners. Th read more
Author
Andy Davis
: https://informedfunding.com/networks/108/index.html Two data releases came out last week that deserve the attention of anyone interested in SME finance – and especially anyone who like me has been struck by the ongoing disappearance of the s read more
Author
Andy Davis
Changes are afoot in the UK tax regime for participants in loans made via peer-to-peer (“P2P”) platforms. The government has recognised that existing tax rules are not fit for purpose when it comes to the new business model of lending P2P and so is co read more
Author
Jonathan Segal, Fox Williams
: https://informedfunding.com/networks/108/index.html Today’s announcement by Funding Circle that – just after turning five – it will shortly move from using reverse auctions to offering only fixed-rate loans will be seen as a watershed for a read more
Author
Andy Davis
: https://informedfunding.com/networks/108/index.html Congratulations, first, to Zopa for passing the major milestone of lending a cumulative £1bn in the 10 years since its launch. It’s obviously a big moment for the P2P movement and, given th read more
Author
Andy Davis
24 Aug 2015 14:41
: https://informedfunding.com/networks/108/index.html The rush of institutional money into the P2P lending market has arguably been the big news for the movement this year and it’s clear that professional investors are now responsible for a fa read more
Author
Andy Davis
Source: http://www.foxwilliams.com/news/1077/ We are delighted to welcome Jonathan Segal as a regular contributor to our AFN news and blogs. Jonathan is a lawyer partner at City law firm Fox Williams who specialises in FinTech and Alternative F read more
Author
Fox Williams
: https://informedfunding.com/networks/108/index.html Is the world of alternative finance about to go quiet for the summer holidays? That’s anybody’s guess but you might well think so, given the burst of activity during the last week of July. read more
Author
Andy Davis
When your business is in its early stages of growth, one of the most valuable assets you can possess is experience to navigate the tough times that all business owners go through at the beginning. However, for many business owners, experience is hard read more
Author
Informed Funding
: https://informedfunding.com/networks/108/index.html How big is the potential market for P2P lending to businesses? Today, Funding Circle and ThinCats, the two largest business lending platforms, have £475.67m and £78m respectively of loans o read more
Author
Andy Davis
Buzzacott, a key sponsor of Informed Funding, have put together a comprehensive guide to the 2015 Summer Budget that answers how the 2015 Summer Budget will affect you. "Given the pace of change within the UK tax legislation that we are all growing read more
Author
Buzzacott
In these cash squeezed times, bridge loans are perfect to enable individuals and businesses and borrow on a short term basis, writes Jo Chapman, Marketing Director at Informed Funding. A bridge loan is a type of short-term borrowing facility, t read more
Author
Informed Funding
: https://informedfunding.com/networks/108/index.html I took part last week in a discussion organised by the Centre for the Study of Financial Innovation, a well-connected City think tank, on equity crowdfunding, at which there was much discus read more
Author
Andy Davis
Informed Funding welcomed four representatives from banks who answered questions about SMEs applying for finance. Roger Fenwick, NatWest's Regional Director (), Andy Veares, Metro Bank's Head of Corporate Banking, Jo Farman, Barclays' South E read more
Author
Informed Funding
: https://informedfunding.com/ We feel that easy access to information is vital for growing businesses that are deciding how best to proceed when it comes to financing their business. In order to make the right decision, all options should b read more
Author
Informed Funding
When it comes to lending to small businesses, banks don’t have the greatest of reputations. Ahead of the InformedFunding seminar on getting a better deal from your bank, we talked to Roger Fenwick, NatWest's Regional Director in . Roger talked u read more
Author
Workspace Group
: https://informedfunding.com/networks/108/index.html News last week that Wall Street’s premier investment bank, Goldman Sachs, is working on the launch of an online lending platform that will target consumers and small businesses has prompted read more
Author
Andy Davis
If you have seen the BBC television show Dragon’s Den, you shall already have an understanding of the basics of Venture Capital. When they are starting out or growing, small businesses or ‘ventures’ require capital to expand further, and one of read more
Author
Informed Funding
: https://informedfunding.com/networks/108/index.html As promised last week, I’m going to return to the subject of rising interest rates in a moment, but first for those interested in equity crowdfunding I should mention a lunchtime roundtable read more
Author
Andy Davis
The old saying goes that “The best things in life are free”, but In business, there’s an equally catchy and far more relevant phrase – “Cashflow is king.” Paying bills, people, investing back into the business, and borrowing debt for growth require read more
Author
ABP
: https://informedfunding.com/networks/108/index.html One of the more frequent criticisms levelled against P2P lending by sceptics is the suggestion that it exists only because interest rates are so extraordinarily low. Once rates move up, they read more
Author
Andy Davis
: https://informedfunding.com/networks/108/index.html How do banks make money? There are lots of plausible answers to this question. They pay 0.2% on deposits and lend at 4%-plus, for a start. Or they take a small quantity of their own funds, read more
Author
Andy Davis
: https://informedfunding.com/networks/108/index.html One subject that seems to come up in almost every conversation I have about alternative finance at the moment is institutional money. The mention of it produces a fair range of reactions bu read more
Author
Andy Davis
There is a vast array of different types of funding options for businesses. In this blog, we provide an overview of Cash Advances. What is a Business Cash Advance? A business cash advance is a source of unsecured funding for businesses that ac read more
Author
Informed Funding
22 May 2015 15:36
: https://informedfunding.com/networks/108/index.html For anyone involved in receivables finance, last week’s trading update from Tungsten offered some interesting snippets to consider and as an early-stage equity investor in the invoice tradin read more
Author
Andy Davis
: https://informedfunding.com/networks/108/index.html At lunch with the CEOs of two alternative finance providers last week, conversation naturally turned to one of the most intriguing unknowns in the peer-to-peer world – how exactly is the na read more
Author
Andy Davis
: https://informedfunding.com/networks/108/index.html In a week of big numbers, the standout figure has to be the £250m financing line agreed between Landbay, an online P2P lender specialising in buy-to-let mortgage lending, and an unnamed Bri read more
Author
Andy Davis
: https://informedfunding.com/networks/108/index.html There’s an interesting deal running on the Syndicate Room platform at the moment that hints at a new set of possibilities for online equity crowdfunding. If my instincts about the implicati read more
Author
Andy Davis
: https://informedfunding.com/networks/108/index.html Established systems have a habit of managing to absorb and assimilate innovative newcomers – how else, after all, would these systems end up becoming established? This familiar process read more
Author
Andy Davis
20 Apr 2015 12:21
Anyone who has started a new business will know that it is very exciting, but takes a great deal of planning, and with the large amount of effort that goes into the launch process it can be hard to think past a successful business launch. As a result, read more
Author
Jo Chapman
31 Mar 2015 08:35
A few weeks ago, the AFN caught up with Ian Thomas, Co-founder of LendInvest to learn about their model and how property based lending via P2P can enhance the marketplace for borrowers and lenders alike. Be sure to check out the LendInvest Case-study read more
Author
Ian Thomas
09 Jan 2015 12:30
A Peer-to Peer Lending platform is an alternative banking model used by investors and borrowers alike to access liquidity and investment opportunities not currently being provided to the public by the mainstream banks. Because of the current economic read more
Author
Herbert Leonelli
09 Jan 2015 12:29
2014 has been a balancing act for the Chinese banking system but has created an advantageous environment for alternative financial systems to thrive where it has faltered. In the case of P2P lending, 2014 has turned out to be a watershed year, with th read more
Author
Tania Ziegler
09 Jan 2015 12:26
Since I’ve been involved in the peer-to-peer lending industry, which is about two and a half years now, applying traditional marketing principles has always proven to be tricky. It’s a new market with huge potential, so narrowing your target audience read more
Author
Nick Moules
More evidence that the financial crisis has permanently changed the way businesses finance themselves has emerged, this time from the Item Club, the long-established economic forecasting group that is sponsored by the consultancy EY. In its latest read more
Author
Andy Davis
06 Feb 2015 14:57
Some interesting research just published by Beauhurst, a company that specialises in mapping the UK’s growing companies, suggests that new ways of raising equity finance are starting to become a significant part of the landscape. According to Beauh read more
Author
Andy Davis
Currently in the UK, there is no single place businesses can go to become informed about the vast array of funding options that are available to them. Informed Funding, the new UK based information platform that has been developed by Knowledge Peers, read more
Author
Informed Funding
