Apr 19, 2023

Raises £7m from Stride, Axeleo, Motive Partners, Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia, with former Google UK MD Dan Cobley appointed as NED Share: Triver has raised £7 million equity from top investors to revolutionise how small businesses can access finance. Leveraging open banking data and AI, Triver funds SMEs’ short-term working capital needs, underwriting the risk of small business borrowing instantly and automatically. It says SMEs can access finance equivalent to up to 20% of their annual turnover – instantly – and at a more competitive rate than other small business financing options in the market. The venture is backed by Stride, whose team has backed early-stage businesses such as Deliveroo and Zoopla. Other seed investors include Axeleo Capital and Motive Partners, with scout investment from Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia Capital. Angel investors include Triver’s non-executive director Dan Cobley – former Google UK MD and co-founder of ClearScore and Salary Finance. Triver is led by CEO founder Jerome Le Luel, one of the world’s foremost experts in deploying advanced credit analytics at world-class lenders. He is former chief risk officer at Funding Circle and former global head of risk analytics for Barclays. Le Luel is joined by a strong founding team who know how to build sophisticated lending technology. They bring expertise gained at Barclays, Capital One, MarketFinance, Credit Karma and BCG. “Existing short-term finance solutions rarely fully satisfy small businesses,” he said. “Yet it’s not a simple puzzle to solve. SMEs have complex cash flow management and underwriting their credit risk automatically is very hard – it has not been a priority for banks. “But at Triver, we’ve cracked the code. Using Open Banking and artificial intelligence we are revolutionising how SMEs access finance and are partnering with digital service providers already trusted by these businesses.” Triver is designed to be embedded within digital service providers already serving SMEs – for example accounting platforms, digital banks, payment providers and procurement tools. Fred Destin, founder at Stride.VC, said: “With millions of small businesses in the UK, there is a huge underserved market for SME finance – primarily due to antiquated lending processes. “The right data and technology is now available to radically change this. With Triver we will make lending to the founders and business owners of the real economy way more efficient and economical. This is a mission we’re delighted to support.”