Instant invoice payment service launches for SMEs supplying public sector
Small business suppliers can immediately turn their invoices into cash flow, enabling them to do more business with local and national government bodies.
LONDON – 23rd July 2024: SME working capital provider TRIVER and procurement platform Elcom have announced a new service, enabling small businesses supplying the public sector to be paid instantly, whenever they wish.
The launch precedes the implementation of the Procurement Act this October, which aims to help SMEs secure a greater share of approximately £300bn of public sector expenditure per year. The move to help SMEs get paid faster is intended to unleash their potential to tender for more public sector contracts.
Leveraging Open Banking data and sophisticated AI, TRIVER funds UK small business’s short-term working capital needs, underwriting the risk of small business borrowing instantly and automatically. Faster and more easily than high street banks, it can provide advances on a business’s client invoices 24/7, offering peace of mind of simple access to capital when needed.
It takes just 20 minutes from initial application to account opening, to funds appearing in a business’s bank account. In comparison, banks typically take up to 4 weeks to open a facility and 24 hours to advance an invoice because of their manual processes.
Elcom, a UK-based software company, specialises in procurement services for the public sector and annually processes £15bn of supplier invoices for government departments, agencies, and public bodies, including the NHS. Its new partnership with TRIVER will enable SME suppliers to the public sector to get paid immediately, in a click. Public sector customers pay reliably, but with this new facility, SMEs will be able to do more business with them thanks to improved cash flow.
Jerome Le Luel, Founder & CEO, said: “There is much hype around AI and financial technologies, but we are applying new tech to solve today’s real-world problems and help any small business right now. Solving the cashflow conundrum for SMEs supplying the public sector is a great example. We have made it fast and simple, and this will help these businesses to flourish.”
William Lock, Chairman at Elcom, commented: “Working in partnership with TRIVER helps us solve one of our clients’ most common challenges. Public sector contracts can be transformative for many small businesses but delivering at scale can squeeze working capital. TRIVER is fast and easy to use and solves the funding gap. It’s a win-win. Public sector service providers can choose small, specialised and often local businesses, benefiting the local economy. Meanwhile these SMEs can now grow their businesses through significant and reliable contracts, without waiting for large invoice payments.”
TRIVER’s groundbreaking approach enables it to offer faster and more cost-effective access to short-term working capital than banks. In its first year of operation, it has successfully funded more than £20m of invoices supporting over 250 UK SMEs and is providing working capital to small businesses at world record speed.
A small business regularly using TRIVER’s service is Hertfordshire-based Cardans Heating. It now advances all invoice payments above the value of £1,000 to instantly increase its cash flow. This recently included a £30,000 invoice with a care home provider.
Director Dan Jordan explains: “There are enough stressful things to think about when running a business. We use TRIVER because it takes away the stress of getting paid and paying the team. We have a two-week payment run for our engineers as well as significant monthly supplier costs for materials – but our customer invoices are typically paid after 30 days, sometimes more. TRIVER is straightforward and solves a challenge that’s always there. Now, I can see a customer invoice go out and know it can be paid immediately.”
TRIVER is designed to be embedded within digital service providers such as Elcom that already serve SMEs. These providers benefit from easy-to-integrate, automated processes that make it simpler to provide a short-term working capital solution to support their customers. They can also receive a value-share back when their customers use TRIVER’s service.
To test TRIVER’s invoice calculator and find out more visit triver.com
