Kriya (company)

Kriya (formerly MarketFinance Limited and MarketInvoice Limited[1][2]) is a British business finance lender, specialising in invoice finance, business loans and embedded finance. Kriya was the first company to allow businesses to borrow against individual outstanding invoices.

Kriya Finance Limited
FormerlyMarketFinance Limited, MarketInvoice Limited
TypePrivate
IndustryBusiness lending, financial technology
Founded29 July 2010 (2010-07-29)
FounderAnil Stocker, Ilya Kondrashov, Charles Delingpole
Headquarters48-50 Scrutton Street, London EC2A 4XQ
Websitekriya.co

As of December 2022, Kriya has facilitated over £20 billion of B2B payments and advanced over £3 billion in credit to UK SMEs.[3]

In 2018, the company became the first FinTech company to partner with a major high street bank in the UK, Barclays bank.[4]

History

Kriya, originally named MarketInvoice, was created in 2011 by Anil Stocker, Ilya Kondrashov, and Charles Delingpole in response to the low levels of lending to SMEs[5][6] by traditional high street banks.

Anil Stocker has served as CEO and Cofounder since the company began and Ilya Kondrashov as Cofounder and Chairman of the Risk Committee. Giles Andrews OBE was appointed the first chairman of the company in 2017.[7]

In 2011, Kriya raised £930,000 in seed funding.[8] In 2013 they announced that the UK Government's development bank, the British Business Bank, would begin to fund businesses through their platform. By the end of 2015 the company had opened an office in Manchester and raised a £6m series A funding round[9] with venture capital firm Northzone and Paul Forster (founder of Indeed.com).

In 2016, Kriya received an additional £7.2m[10] in funding from Northzone and MCI Partners.

In 2018, Kriya announced that they had funded over £2 billion worth of trade on their platform.[3]

In 2019, the company completed a series B round raising a further £26m in equity funding from Barclays bank, Santander Innoventures, Northzone and Viola Credit.[11]

On 12 November 2019, MarketInvoice was renamed MarketFinance as it launched a new business loans product.[12]

In September 2021, Kriya announced a £280m debt and equity fundraise and its accreditation under the Recovery Loan Scheme (RLS). This comes after being one of the first fintechs to be accredited under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS), having lent £250m to companies across the UK.

On 19 May 2022 Kriya raised £100m in debt financing from Deutsche Bank.[13]

On 30 November 2022, MarketFinance formally became Kriya. Since their inception in 2011 the market and consumers have evolved. As a result, Kriya moved beyond offering invoice finance by adding a digital loans product, including working with the British Business Bank to deliver Covid-loans to businesses when they needed it most. As of 2022, Kriya started offering embedded payments and credit options within B2B transactions.

Products

In 2017 the company released a Confidential Invoice Discounting facility that would allow businesses to upload their entire invoice book to borrow against.[14] In 2018 Kriya launched a business loan product followed by an embedded finance product in 2021.[15]

Partners and investors

A number of different investors fund business through Kriya's platform, ranging from institutional investors to regional funds and banks.

In August 2013, Kriya was awarded £5 million in government funding to lend to small businesses through the Business Finance Partnership.[16] The extension of the scheme, to boost finance through non-bank lenders, was announced by Vince Cable, business secretary. This deal was extended in September 2015 for a further 3 years, taking their total investment in Kriya's platform to £10m.[17]

In 2018 Portugal's bank Banco BNI Europa and the German Varengold Bank announced that they would lend £90m and £45m respectively through Kriya's platform.[18]

In 2018 Kriya announced a partnership with Barclays bank to provide invoice finance to Barclays' business customers.[19]

In 2021, Kriya completed a £280m debt and equity fundraise,[20] and became accredited under the Recovery Loan Scheme (RLS) after being accredited in 2020 for the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS).

In 2022 Kriya raised £100m in debt financing from Deutsche Bank.[13]

Awards

Kriya has received several awards and commendations:

  • Winners of 2019 Business Excellence Awards for Most Innovative Invoice Financing Solutions[21]
  • Winners of the 2019 Wealth & Finance magazine fintech award for Best SME Invoice Finance Solutions Provider[22]
  • Featured in 2017 and 2018 The Sunday Times Tech Track 100 ‘Ones to Watch’ list.[23]
  • Featured in the 2017 FinTechCity Fintech50 list and the 2018 Fintech50 Hall of Fame[24]

References
  1. "MARKETFINANCE LIMITED – Filing history (free information from Companies House)". beta.companieshouse.gov.uk. Retrieved 27 November 2019.
  2. "MarketInvoice rebrands as MarketFinance as it launches SME lending up to £250k – AltFi News". AltFi. Archived from the original on 27 November 2019. Retrieved 27 November 2019.
  3. JD Alois (19 March 2018). "UK Fintech MarketInvoice Tops £2 Billion in Online Lending". Crowdfund Insider. Archived from the original on 17 October 2019. Retrieved 18 October 2019.
  4. Ryan Weeks (2 August 2018). "MarketInvoice strikes strategic deal with Barclays". AltFi. Archived from the original on 17 October 2019. Retrieved 18 October 2019.
  5. "Businesses finance raised – Bank of England". Bank of England. Archived from the original on 5 February 2020. Retrieved 19 December 2019.
  6. "SMALL BUSINESS FINANCE MARKETS 2014 – Publication" (PDF). British Business Bank. Archived (PDF) from the original on 5 February 2020. Retrieved 19 December 2019.
  7. Anthony Strzalek (20 March 2017). "Giles Andrews appointed MarketInvoice chairman". FStech. Archived from the original on 18 October 2019. Retrieved 18 October 2019.
  8. "Startup of the Week: MarketInvoice – Wired.co.uk". Wired.co.uk. 25 April 2012. Archived from the original on 5 February 2020. Retrieved 19 December 2019.
  9. "MarketInvoice raises £6m – UKTN". UKTN. 17 August 2015. Archived from the original on 5 February 2020. Retrieved 19 December 2019.
  10. Steve O'Hear (18 July 2016). "MarketInvoice raises another £7.2M – TechCrunch". TechCrunch. TechCrunch. Archived from the original on 5 February 2020. Retrieved 19 December 2019.
  11. Nicole, Emily (21 January 2019). "London fintech Marketinvoice lands £56m in funding from Barclays and Santander". City A.M. Retrieved 1 November 2022.
  12. "FinTech firm MarketInvoice reveals new name". BusinessCloud.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  13. "MarketFinance raises £100m from Deutsche Bank". AltFi. Retrieved 7 December 2022.
  14. Kathryn Gaw (9 February 2017). "MarketInvoice launches new invoice finance product". www.p2pfinancenews.co.uk. P2P Finance News. Archived from the original on 5 February 2020. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
  15. Ryan Browne (31 October 2017). "This UK fintech is taking on big banks with business loans — and one key EU law is driving it". cnbc.com. cnbc. Archived from the original on 5 February 2020. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
  16. "Vince Cable: Business lending to get £30m boost". BBC News. 22 March 2013. Archived from the original on 17 December 2018. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
  17. "Is this Government bank behind the alternative finance boom". The Telegraph. 4 October 2015. Archived from the original on 5 February 2020. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
  18. "BNI Europa and Varengold provide £135 million funding to MarketInvoice platform". Finextra. Finextra. 26 March 2018. Archived from the original on 5 February 2020. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
  19. Ryan Weeks (2 August 2018). "MarketInvoice strikes strategic deal with Barclays". AltFi. Archived from the original on 17 October 2019. Retrieved 18 October 2019.
  20. Lunden, Ingrid (21 September 2021). "UK's MarketFinance scores $383M to fuel its online loans platform for SMBs". TechCrunch. Retrieved 7 December 2022.
  21. "MarketInvoice – Most Innovative Invoice Financing Solutions 2019 – England". Archived from the original on 25 April 2020. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
  22. "Fintech Awards – Best SME Invoice Finance Solutions Provider – MarketInvoice". 10 July 2019. Archived from the original on 5 February 2020. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
  23. "Tech Track 100 – MarketInvoice". www.fasttrack.co.uk. The Sunday Times. Archived from the original on 5 February 2020. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
  24. "The FinTech50 Hall of Fame". thefintech50.com. FinTechCity. Archived from the original on 13 May 2020. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
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