Small and medium-sized enterprises are considered the backbone of the economy, with the UK being home for 5.7 mln SMEs in 2017, which represents 99% of all business. However, 2017 is the fourth year when the number of business collapsing into bankruptcy hits high. The reasons for which small business fail to survive are the poor cash flow, often due to unpaid customer invoices and the costs associated with pursuing them.
According to Bacs Payment Scheme, nearly a quarter of SMEs rely on borrowed cash to keep pace with business-essential overheads. Still, GBP 14.2 bln in late payments owned to SMEs by customers are registered for 2017.
Thus, a UK-based fintech startup called Solna has been launched at Finovate. This invoicing tool, powered by credit score card, is aimed to help startups, micro-businesses, and freelancers put an end to late payments, get smart about cash flow, and ultimately thrive.
Through Solna, users are able to leverage credit score data so that they are provided with a clearer picture of their customers financial health. This signifies that having insight into risk, users can recognize in advance if a specific client is likely to pay on time or default.
Also, Solna offers financial services to SMEs searching for solutions to late payments. By tying in companies credit scores to their invoicing behaviour, the platform provides late payment mitigation tools based on each individual users specific needs while pre-approving them for financial services.
Another function that it has is the ability to automate the overdue invoice-chasing process, saving users time and allowing them to focus on more important tasks.
Every day we send out a free e-mail with the most important headlines of the last 24 hours.
Subscribe now