Debeo, a new Leeds-based fintech, has officially launched what it describes as the UK’s first purpose-built online alternative finance platform to help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) manage their true debt position.

The platform has been designed to tackle the nation’s £90billion SME lending gap—a statistic highlighted by Allica Bank—and provide vital support to businesses that struggle to understand their debt situation. According to the company, a lack of clarity often leads SMEs into cash flow difficulties, higher borrowing costs, and even bankruptcy.

Tackling ‘desperation’ borrowing

The company is the brainchild of Alex Beardsley, who brings over 12 years of experience owning a commercial finance brokerage and running SME-sized businesses. Beardsley recognised a significant gap in the market for a tool that clarifies complex borrowing arrangements.

“With many SMEs confused by taking out multiple loans, overdrafts and asset finance agreements across different lenders, our new platform uniquely uses the latest data and insights to empower better business debt management and financing decisions,” Beardsley commented.

She added: “Most companies of this size unfortunately go into applying for commercial finance without seeing the whole picture, will then operate from a position of desperation and face immense risk as a result. We’re addressing the needs of those firms that simply don’t have clarity over their finances, struggle to access the right funding and don’t have the information at their fingertips to apply for a working capital agreement that meets their business needs and financial situation.”

How the platform works

Debeo aims to hold the SME’s hand throughout the entire lending process. It achieves this by bringing together a company’s borrowing, facilities, and financial data into one structured, easy-to-understand view.

Key features and benefits of the platform include:

• Equipping businesses with real-time data and insights to help them independently find the right lender and solution.
• Assisting users in preparing and structuring an application to increase the likelihood of approval.
• Accelerating the speed at which firms receive working capital.
• Providing clearer risk profiling to make firms more ‘lendable’ and broadening their access to capital beyond traditional high-street banks.

A unified ecosystem for lenders and advisors

Beyond directly supporting business owners, the platform also caters to the wider financial ecosystem. Debeo provides accountants, advisors, brokers, and other intermediaries with full visibility of a client’s commercial debt status. This transparency helps intermediaries match their clients with the appropriate lenders and offer better strategic advice.

For lenders, Debeo centralises key information within one place, which can reduce the number of incomplete or inaccurate applications, speed up the overall process, and connect them with businesses that meet their specific lending criteria.

“It can be a minefield and so vital that SMEs understand their borrowing capabilities and are much more informed in advance about the affordability, complexity, covenant risks and potential pitfalls of the alternative finance available,” Beardsley explained. “It will also streamline the entire application process by putting borrowers more in control and equipping lenders and intermediaries with the data and insights needed to deliver the best possible outcome.”