Liberis raises £89m debt from HSBC Innovation Banking

Liberis raises £89m debt from HSBC Innovation Banking, BCI Capital Embedded finance provider Liberis has secured $112m (£89m) in debt financing from HSBC Innovation Banking and BCI Capital to fund international expansion. Liberis, which builds tools to provide small businesses with accessible finance, said it will launch in Canada, Germany and Poland next year. The London-based firm works with companies to embed its finance tools into their existing platform in addition to providing direct access to business funding applications. The fintech company uses AI to provide personalised financing offers to SMEs. Liberis has provided nearly $1.5bn in funding across 60,000 transactions since its launch in 2007. “The joint debt facility from HSBC Innovation Banking and BCI Capital allows Liberis to serve thousands more business owners with fair and frictionless funding through our partners using our embedded finance platform,” said Rob Straathof, CEO of Liberis. The debt facility brings the total capital secured by Liberis to $700m. It marks a sizeable debt investment from HSBC Innovation Banking, which launched out of the collapsed Silicon Valley Bank UK earlier this year. It builds on an earlier relationship between Silicon Valley Bank UK and Liberis, with the startup lender providing £26m in debt to Liberis in January. Guillaume Adjogah, SVP of fintech warehouse finance at HSBC Innovation Banking UK, said the debt financing will “enable Liberis to further spread its wings into new geographies”. Adjogah added: “This is an exciting milestone in our long-term partnership with Liberis and we’re proud to be part of this next step in the company’s journey.” This year many startups have turned to debt financing amid a challenging funding market. Debt financing means the business owner doesn’t give up any control of the company and in some cases, it can be easier to raise. Companies are also less likely to have to announce a downround when taking on debt financing.