Fintech business equipment funder equipal has secured £16.25 million in combined equity investment and forward flow funding to support businesses investing in advanced production technology, including additive manufacturing equipment.
The funding includes a £1.25 million equity investment alongside a headline £15 million forward flow facility - composed of initial full lease funding and contingent junior funding, with Altum Capital providing both the equity injection and funding capacity.
equipal operates a proprietary platform, embedded at the point-of-sale with more than 75 equipment vendors across the UK. This enables equipment vendors and their customers to organise 'fast, automated asset finance' for equipment purchases of up to £250,000.
The company serves a range of sectors, from manufacturing to transport, but this investment is said to be primarily focused on supporting those seeking to invest in advanced manufacturing equipment and technology.
In the past, equipal has supported Incremental-AM in funding a new £66k 3D printer sourced from a US manufacturer. Both Incremental-AM and its equipment vendor managed the sale, financing and delivery of the equipment over the equipal’s online platform. The application process was completed within a few hours, and the documents were signed in minutes, according to equipal.
Competing with the traditional asset finance industry, equipal offers a fully digital, integrated online platform that makes arranging asset finance 'faster and easier' for equipment vendors and their customers. The funding will also support equipal’s continued growth, including hiring across business development, marketing, operations, credit and data, where the team expects to grow to 12 in the next year.
To date, equipal has recorded a default rate of 1.26% and zero credit losses to date, while 69% of customers who have sourced funding once through the platform have returned for additional finance.
Eamonn McMahon, founder of equipal, said: “I’m thrilled to get this deal over the line. While the market environment has been challenging, our operating resilience and discipline on credit, while keeping the customer front and centre, has helped us get here. The structure of this deal allows for additional scale with senior funding in the years ahead and, critically, provides us with operating flexibility. We look forward to scaling up, in partnership with our new shareholders and funders, Altum Capital.”
