Today, PayPal announces that it has provided $2 billion of funding to 90,000 SMEs globally through PayPal Working Capital – its small business finance programme.
The milestone comes three years after the launch of PayPal Working Capital in the United States in 2013, and less than 12 months after the global $1billion mark was achieved in November 2015. The programme underlines PayPal’s commitment to democratising access to financial services, by offering fast, fair and flexible funding to the businesses that need it most.
PayPal Working Capital was introduced to the UK in November 2014, and has since advanced more than £185 million to 14,000 British small businesses across a variety of industries and sectors. The success of PayPal Working Capital, both in the UK and internationally, means that PayPal has now increased the maximum advance available in the UK to £60,000.
Nicola Longfield, Director, Small and Medium Business - UK & Ireland, commented, “Small businesses play a crucial role in powering the UK economy - last year small businesses accounted for 99.3% of all private sector business, with a combined annual turnover of £1.8 trillion[1. At PayPal, because of our close relationships with small businesses, we are uniquely positioned to help them succeed. We understand that for small businesses the pace of change is rapid and, on occasions, unpredictable. PayPal Working Capital is designed to respond to this by providing flexible capital, which can typically be approved and funds obtained within minutes.”
Due to years of working closely with business customers, PayPal’s insights into how they operate and its data on their PayPal sales histories, PayPal is able to make smarter funding decisions, developed to cater specifically to the needs of small businesses. With PayPal Working Capital, there is no external credit check and funding can be approved and issued in minutes. Repayments are applied automatically as a fixed percentage of daily sales that the business owner selects in advance - meaning businesses repay more when business is strong and less during slower times.
Reshmi Bennett, founder and Head Chef of artisan patisserie Anges du Sucre, used an £8,000 PayPal Working Capital advance to fund development of new products for the business’s launch in Selfridges food hall. She comments: “PayPal Working Capital is so stress-free because it’s tied in proportion to our sales… if we have a day with no sales, we don’t have to make a payment that day.”