ScotPac Announces Online Lending Acquisition
(8 March 2022 – Australia) Specialist working capital solutions provider ScotPac has acquired Business Fuel, a prominent online fintech lender, to expand the group’s product offering by extending business credit for the first time.
Founded a decade ago, Business Fuel provides business loans from A$10,000 to A$250,000 with tenors of up to two years to support small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). Business Fuel utilises an intuitive fintech platform that is highly scalable to support ScotPac’s extensive growth ambitions coupled with leading customer experience. Business Fuel Managing Director Wade Doblo will retain his position with a direct reporting line to ScotPac CEO Jon Sutton.
The company boasts data-driven automated credit assessments, funding approval within 24 hours and end-to-end online application onboarding. Business Fuel has invested in a proprietary credit decision engine for rapid approval and application turnaround times refined from an extended period of business intelligence knowledge and expertise input, crucial advantages for time poor small businesses as identified by ScotPac’s latest H2 2021 SME Growth Index.
Simply having enough time to complete tasks was a major pain point nominated by 84 percent of over 1,200 SMEs directly interviewed by East & Partners for the long running research program. A staggering 81.5 percent cited cash flow concerns as one of their top three concerns while government compliance was nominated as their top concern (85 percent).
“This acquisition marks a further investment by the business in technology that will make us the leader in the data-driven lending space for SMEs, allowing ScotPac to offer fast and convenient online business loans, subject of course to credit assessment. That unlocks a significant proportion of the SME market we have not been able to help before” commented ScotPac CEO Jon Sutton.
“There is no one size fits all when it comes to SME funding as every business has different needs, operating environments and cash flow pressures. That is why SME owners deserve to have a greater range of flexible finance options available to them, rather than a single funding product that might not be right.”
“ScotPac aims to be the leading non-bank SME financier in Australia and New Zealand, and by offering general business loans it can service a wider range of businesses looking for quick solutions in managing cash flow. Acquiring Business Fuel reinforces our strategy by adding online business loans alongside our traditional asset and debtor finance, and our recently launched property secured finance product. It also complements our ongoing digital transformation strategy” Sutton added.
“We’re excited to join ScotPac which provides us the opportunity to accelerate our growth in the SME market. Our team believes in good ideas and backing Australian businesses with the capital they need to thrive. Joining ScotPac heralds a new phase in Business Fuel’s success which gives us all a greater capacity to continue to lead the market” stated Business Fuel Managing Director Wade Doblo.
Subscribe