SME finance aggregator BIZL hires Ravi Ambasana as head of product
BUSINESS finance aggregator platform BIZL has appointed a head of product to help develop its technology offering, including a foray into Open Banking.
The platform, which matches small businesses in need of finance with a range of lenders including peer-to-peer lenders, said that its new strategic hire Ravi Ambasana (pictured) would move BIZL onto “more ambitious projects”.
Ambasana previously worked at RVU Group, which owns Uswitch, Zoopla and Money.co.uk.
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“Last week we started piloting Open Banking, which will mean that when we match a user to a lender, the user can give us access to their live bank transaction feeds,” said Ambasana.
“This creates massive efficiencies for the user, us and the lender, and is very exciting. This week we go live with a direct feed to one of our lenders, meaning we can get instant approvals for requests up to £15,000.
“Next year is going to be big. It will all be about automation, building a 360-degree financial picture of the user in real time, powerful insights for business owners and lenders, as well as getting our platform ready to scale into different markets.”
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BIZL pulls in data from credit reference agencies, Companies House and bank feeds, to help business streamline their applications and give lenders access to more insightful data.
The UK-based firm matches businesses to a panel of 50 small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME) lenders, including P2P platforms Funding Circle, LendingCrowd, Assetz Capital, Growth Street and MarketFinance.
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“SMEs have been unloved for too long by the banks,” said Josh Greenway, founder and chief executive of BIZL.
“Over many years investment into lending processes and underwriting has been lacking, and that’s because banks have become apathetic to their customers. BIZL is on a mission to revolutionise the way businesses borrow money, which is pretty ambitious. Ravi will play a pivotal role in helping us achieve our goals.”