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Goldman Sachs gives £75m boost to lending fintech Capify

New deal: Capify CEO David Goldin. Photo: Capify
New deal: Capify CEO David Goldin. Photo: Capify

Goldman Sachs has put in place a £75m credit facility for Capify, an online lending platform for small and medium sized businesses (SMEs).

Manchester-headquartered Capify announced the credit facility on Wednesday. It will be used specifically to fund Capify’s UK and Australian businesses, CEO David Goldin said.

Capify provides online business loans and merchant cash advance products to SMEs. It launched in the UK in 2008 and has lent £150m in the country to date. It has a strong foothold in the restaurant and retail sectors, Goldin said, but lends across the spectrum of business.

Pankaj Soni, an executive director at Goldman Sachs Private Capital, said in a statement: “Capify is one of the leading SME finance providers in the UK. We have been impressed with the management team, business model, and innovative finance solutions for SMEs.”

One of Capify’s innovations is a lending product with micro repayments based on cashflow. If a business’s sales start to fall, loan repayments will fall in line with cashflow, Goldin said.

Goldin, who is based in the US, told Yahoo Finance UK that the new credit facility would help spur business’ growth in the UK. He said he was not deterred by Britain’s impending exit from the EU and the potential impact this could have on small businesses.

“We’ve been through the global financial crisis so we know how to underwrite in that,” Goldin said in a phone interview. “The stress test model we had was going in to work everyday.”

The Capify facility comes as Goldman continues to embrace fintech. The bank has invested in startups such as Circle, Marqueta, and Immersive Labs through its principle strategic investments arm. It has also helped provide a $1bn loan facility to student loan platform Prodigy Financial.

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Oscar Williams-Grut covers banking, fintech, and finance for Yahoo Finance UK. Follow him on Twitter at @OscarWGrut.

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