Manchester-based fintech firm AccessPay secures £1m boost

Fintech firm AccessPay has revealed plans to explore growth opportunities after securing a £1m loan from Barclays.

Manchester-based Access Systems (UK) Ltd, which trades as AccessPay, has become the first Manchester firm to take advantage of Barclays’ new Innovative Finance offer geared towards high-growth, innovative firms.

The eight-figure loan is backed by a guarantee of the European Investment Fund (EIF), enabled by the European Investment Bank Group’s InnovFin funding initiative.

AccessPay CEO Anish Kapoor said: “We explored a number of options to grow our business in 2016, having the luxury of significant venture capital backing and strong existing cash flow.

“We felt that the local Barclays team in Manchester demonstrated from the start that they fully understood our market proposition and drive to make business payments as easy as possible, recognising the potential of the business to achieve rapid growth.”

He added: “They also saw the huge opportunity to deepen the existing working relationship between the two companies. We are very excited to be going on this journey with Barclays.”

From its HQ in Manchester’s City Tower, AccessPay provides a cloud-based connectivity layer between a firm’s finance systems, its banks and payment networks such as BACS, SEPA, SWIFT, Faster Payments and Direct Debit.

Barclays’ Manchester-based relationship director, David Parr, said the investment comes as part of the bank’s plans to extend its lending capabilities and “credit appetite in the technology sector” with support for “ambitious, entrepreneurial businesses”.

He continued: “In addition to our existing venture loan, we have launched Innovation Finance; this enables us to offer greater support to the market by allowing earlier lending to the most promising of high-growth companies and preferential pricing for all qualifying high-growth companies, allowing more funds to be re-invested into the business.”

The deal with AccessPay follows Barclays’ announcement that it has signed an agreement with the EIF to finance lending to innovative SMEs and small mid-cap firms, allowing the bank to plough €140m (£100m) into UK businesses over the next two years.

Discussing the EIF agreement, Barclays’ head of debt finance, Karl Nolson, said: “Helping innovative companies to grow is at the heart of what we do.

“Barclays is uniquely placed to support high-growth businesses and entrepreneurs, from startup, to scale up, to IPO.”

He continued: “Lending to SMEs is at the core of our business and our joint-venture agreement with the EIF is now another way that our business customers can access funding when they need it most.”