Cloud-based invoice financing service, DueCourse, has been selected to join Tech City UK’s prestigious Upscale programme for 2017, aimed at accelerating the growth of Britain’s most promising early stage startups. The announcement comes following DueCourse’s most recent round of funding, which saw it secure £6.25 million of investment, the largest seen outside of London for a Fintech company.
Upscale is Tech City UK’s six month programme, aimed at helping the most promising early stage startups to begin their scaling journey. One of only 33 tech companies to have been selected to join the popular programme, DueCourse will be mentored by some of the UK’s most successful tech entrepreneurs including founders from Lastminute.com, Lovefilm and FanDuel.com.
CEO and co-founder of DueCourse, Paul Haydock, commented: “To have been selected to join Upscale 2017 verifies our ambitious vision of growth, and will enable us to maximise upon our most recent investment. Our expectations for the business are incredibly high, so to benefit from the wisdom of some of the industry’s most significant players will undoubtedly propel our scale-up goals.
“We’ve already enjoyed rapid growth since our launch two years ago, thanks in part, to the confidence investors have placed in the unique service we offer businesses, including SMEs and accountancies. Being recognised by Upscale means the country’s leading tech experts now also share our vision and belief in the DueCourse proposition.”
The Upscale companies represent a wide spread of sectors and reflects the UK’s strength in certain areas, including fintech, with almost a third of those selected coming from outside of London.
Gerard Grech, chief executive of Tech City UK, said: “One of the objectives of Tech City UK is to accelerate the growth of the country’s digital and tech sector. The companies that join our Upscale programme have already overcome significant hurdles and have the makings of brilliant businesses.”
Launched in 2015, Manchester-based DueCourse’s software technology unlocks the cash tied up in unpaid invoices, giving SMEs control over their cash flow and empowering them to meet their ambitions.
DueCourse is a completely new cash flow utility that offers a flexible, immediate and accessible source of finance for UK SMEs. No contracts are needed to install the free software and it is completely confidential (end customers are never aware that a business is using the service). Businesses can choose how often they use it and when they use it; whether that’s hiring new people, funding new resources or purchasing equipment.
Cash flow problems are one of the major issues affecting small business growth in the UK. Figures from the Association for Asset Based Finance (ABFA) show that businesses with a turnover of under £1 million wait on average 72 days to be paid by suppliers and, according to Santander, 46 per cent of businesses report being hit by at least one recent cash flow setback.
Invoice financing in the UK has risen 63 per cent in the first quarter of 2016 to £711 million, compared to the same period in 2015 when this figure stood at £435 million.
For more information about how DueCourse helps improve cash flow for small businesses visit www.duecourse.com
