Capify Secures Massive Credit Facility from Goldman Sachs

Capify, which serves the UK and Australia markets, announced this morning that it has secured a £75 million (roughly $95 million) credit facility from Goldman Sachs.

“This credit facility validates our company as a leader in the marketplace and underlines the strength of our business model to provide simple, affordable and smart financial options to UK and Australian small businesses,” Capify founder and CEO David Goldin said.

The achievement is notable for a company that is not venture capital or private equity based.

“Capify is one of the leading small business providers in the UK and Australia,” said Pankaj Soni, Executive Director at Goldman Sachs Private Capital. “We have been impressed with the management team, business model and innovative finance solutions for small businesses [and] we look forward to supporting their growth in the years ahead.”

Capify provides MCA deals and business loans to small business merchants. Goldin told deBanked that MCA deals make up about 75% of Capify’s business in the UK, with about 25% in business loans. The ratio in Australia is the inverse, he said.

Goldin entered the UK and Australian markets in 2008 and said that they have become hyper competitive over the last three to four years. He acknowledged that both markets are still far smaller than the U.S. though.

“You don’t see these big crazy origination volumes [that you do in the U.S.]…[for us,] it’s about building a profitable, growing company.”

According to Goldin, another difference between the U.S. market and the UK and Australian markets is that the latter has embraced self-regulation much faster than the U.S. For instance, in Australia, there have been recommendations from semi-governmental organizations on how funders should perform, including the publishing of APR in contracts for business loans.

“These markets have moved quicker for self-regulation in the last two or three years than the U.S. market has moved in 10 years.”

This may be a matter of other countries learning from the experiences of the U.S., he said.

Goldin said that in addition to scaling Capify, the money from the facility will also be used to launch partner/broker programs in the UK and Australia. So far, the majority of Capify’s leads come from internal direct marketing efforts.

Capify employs more than 120 people divided between two offices, one in Manchester, England and the other in Sydney, Australia.

Goldin integrated the U.S. operations of Capify to Strategic Funding (now Kapitus) in 2017.

Todd Stone was a reporter for deBanked.