Community Development Finance Association joins small business funding portal

Small business funding portal alternativebusinessfunding.co.uk has received a boost with the Community Development Finance Association (CDFA), the trade body for Community Development Finance Institutions (CDFIs), joining its network to support start-ups looking for alternative finance solutions.

40 CDFI’s, responsible for funding over 10,000 small businesses rejected for traditional bank finance last year, will now form part of the community network which is designed to redirect a reported 45% of rejected bank loan applicants to other potential sources of finance.

Launched in March 2014 by seven of the UK’s leading alternative finance providers including Crowdcube, Seedrs, and Market Invoice, alternativefunding.co.uk is a collaborative platform which seeks to help make entrepreneurs more aware of the non-bank lending options available to finance start-up or early stage growth, such as peer-to-peer lending, equity crowdfunding, and invoice loans.

Users are able to submit responses to a few simple online questions including amount of finance needed, desired timeframe and turnover, and are then directed, via a traffic light system, to the most suitable provider/s available on the platform.

The portal’s partnership with the CDFA is said to represent a “serious addition to the main banks”; raising the number of small and medium-sized businesses helped by members of the portal to 40,000 with a total of £1.2bn funding to date.

CDFA chief executive, Ben Hughes, discussed the announcement: “CDFIs have provided vital support to thousands of businesses in the past and we want to help 10 times more in the future.

“Linking up with other leading funders makes it easy for small business owners to navigate the options and find what’s right for them. CDFIs, like all the funders on the portal, share the aim of simplifying this process, supporting businesses and collaborating with other funders.”

Adam Tavener, chairman of pensionledfunding.com; one of the seven initial members of alternativebusinessfunding.co.uk said:

“The addition of the CDFA, and its community network of small business funders, means the portal now offers even more choice to small and medium enterprises. Importantly, the CDFA operate at a local level with face-to-face interaction with small and medium-sized companies, so provides a distinct alternative to online platform funding solutions.”