PayPal working capital funding jumps 60% to £1 billion in UK as SME demand grows

Its digital services also support the profile of typical applications, with more than 70% of cash advances in the UK issued outside of traditional banking hours.

PayPal Working Capital provides businesses with a cash advance of up to £150,000.

Repayments are applied automatically as a fixed percentage of a business’s PayPal takings, which gives them flexibility over how repayments are made.

There is one fixed, upfront fee and no late or early payment charges.

Globally, PayPal Working Capital has advanced more than £5.4 billion to SMEs since 2013.

Since its launch into the UK market in 2014, PayPal Working Capital has provided funds to more than 37,000 British businesses. Of the 116,000 cash advances issued in the UK, 21% of recipients planned to use the funding to help grow their business. A further 9% were aiming to purchase business equipment and 8% were funding existing operations. The majority (56%) planned to use the funding to purchase stock.

Norah Coelho (pictured), director of business financing at PayPal UK, said: “The support we offer businesses extends far beyond processing online payments. We are helping our customers bridge a gap where more traditional financial services are coming up short.

“Our in-depth knowledge of our small business customers mean we can typically approve and issue a cash advance in minutes after a quick online application is completed.”

PayPal currently manages 267 million active account holders It is available in more than 200 markets around the world and in addition to PayPal includes Braintree, Venmo and Xoom.