RateSetter funds SME acquisition in the South East
RATESETTER has channelled £140,000 to fund a small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME) acquisition in the South East, as part of its focus on business lending in the region.
The peer-to-peer finance platform has arranged two loans to enable Thame-headquartered digital marketing agency Purple Frog acquire Oxfordshire neighbour OXLink, an IT specialist that will help it scale up its operations.
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The ‘big three’ P2P firm is looking to grow its SME loanbook in the South East, where it conducted research that found almost half of companies are seeking to boost their productivity by becoming more efficient and four in 10 expect to grow in the next six months – indicating a promising pool of funding demand.
“Purple Frog illustrates perfectly the sort of deal we are looking to finance, where additional funds help an already successful smaller company to grow, develop and improve productivity,” said RateSetter’s managing director of commercial finance Paul Marston. “RateSetter is always ready to back more SMEs with ambitious projects like this.”
Purple Frog’s managing director David Finch said that prior to the acquisition of OXLink, the company had to outsource technical expertise on building digital platforms – something that the two P2P loans have helped to change.
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“We’ve been able to grow the business far more quickly than we would have done without the additional finance,” said Finch.
“Now that we have it in-house, we can respond to clients’ needs much faster.
“We have been able to scale-up the enlarged business by leveraging the two companies’ skill sets and customers.”
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