Technology continues to reinvent the way we conduct most aspects of our lives and in recent years this has been particularly felt in the realm of business funding.

Where once humans had to leaf through reams of paper and ask all manner of questions to assess the viability of a loan, companies are springing up which can make lending decisions in second with the use of complex algorithms and straightforward business data.

One such company is Everline, the business lending arm of Wonga, which combines its parent’s knack for rapidly assessing personal credit-worthiness with algorithms that also take business data into account. 

Gould says that the service is particularly for businesses which suffer a working capital shortfall from time to time. Everline research found that a third of small businesses will suffer some sort of cashflow shortfall every three months including late payments and discounted stock opportunities.

Gould says: “We provide what we think is a very unique service in that we’re able to turn working capital around really quickly for businesses we don’t waste a lot of their time going through the process of applying and they can get access to cash really quickly when they need it – on their terms.”

Businesses can borrow up to £50,000, the pricing is all clear up front and funds can be in your account within one hour. Obviously such flexibility does come at a cost.

An example from the site’s cost calculator: £40,000 borrowed over 26 weeks would work out as a total of £46,400, in weekly repayments of £1,784.62.

There are no fees for early repayment. Gould says that at application the average term is 35 weeks but the average actual loan length is 20 weeks, which suggests a lot of borrowers use this flexibility often.

And what of the risk? “I don’t think it’s risky at all,” Gould says. “We’re using very advanced decision-making processes and we’re only accepting good businesses that have the ability to repay the loans.”

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