Finding the right finance for your business

There are a number of ways businesses find finance. However, it is important that you find the most appropriate funding for your situation and circumstances (see our article on Business loans).

Most businesses kick off their fundraising search by speaking to their bank manager and/or their accountant. While this may be a good first step, it can lead to a business missing out on the funding options that are available to them or the other options that they should consider. We suggest that businesses should speak to an expert that is willing and able to invest the time upfront to properly understand the situation and that can therefore properly advise them on their best course of action. Do not just sign up to something DYOR (do your own research).

Commercial finance brokers and debt advisors are knowledgeable (and hopefully subject matter experts) that act as intermediaries between businesses that want to borrow and commercial lenders that want to lend. They are there to provide commercial finance solutions such as:

• Secured business loans

• Unsecured business loans

• Short-term business loans

• Start-up loans

• Merchant cash advances

• Commercial property finance

• Invoice finance / Asset-based lending

• Asset finance

Advisors and finance brokers can provide funding options for an increasingly wide range of circumstances and the loan services (some of which you won't even be aware of) are more specialised than ever before.

Engaging with an expert to understand the market is highly recommended. There is an ever-growing list of funders, from banks to debt funds to specialist and alternative lenders that provide a wider variety of funding options than at any time previously. However, this also means that the finance market is even more opaque and difficult to navigate than ever before, and engaging the right advisor has never been more important.

There are now over 400 specialist lenders in the UK market. There are debt funds, challenger banks, alternative lenders, specialty funders, and opportunistic credit providers that can provide liquidity to a wide variety of different business models and circumstances.

Save Time, Time is money

Speak to the right lender, with the right information and you will quickly get the right funding in place. We have seen so many examples where a business has gone to speak to 10, 20, 30 different lenders, and they still haven't got the funding.

Please also remember that the opportunity cost of not getting the right funding in place can be huge.

Astell Advisory are experts in business funding. If you're considering raising any form of business finance, then please do get in touch.