Dundee, Angus and the Tay

Business loans and finance in Dundee

Dundee is a small business base, 3,545 registered enterprises in 2025, with an unusual mix inside it: waterfront hospitality, games and software studios, life sciences spinouts and a solid block of trades. Each borrows differently. Through our panel we have access to unsecured, asset and invoice finance lenders that lend in Scotland. We take enquiries from £10,000 upwards.

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Bottles, boards and bar stools.

Alex BeardsleyFounder & Director

Updated 21 September 20268 min read

Business loans in Dundee

A Dundee loan is arranged from the lenders that lend in Scotland and whose published criteria the business meets. Whether a lender covers Scotland is the first test, and the firm's own numbers are the second. The commercial finance broker runs both tests before a lender is approached, and the lender makes the decision.

Dundee sums are modest. £25,000 is the figure a Perth Road cafe or a Broughty Ferry salon tends to ask for, and an unsecured loan of that size is priced on the accounts and the bank statements. The Scotland filter applies first, and how a lender reads adverse credit, by its age and whether it is satisfied, is the other thing a Dundee firm with a difficult 2023 will want to know.

We are in Annesley, Nottinghamshire, and we have no Dundee office. A Scottish company is run through the same process as an English one, by phone and email with a named handler, and the one thing we do differently for Dundee is ask every lender the Scotland question before the file moves.

What we see from Dundee businesses

The waterfront drives the hospitality enquiries. Bars, restaurants and cafes between the V&A and the Perth Road take almost all of their money by card, and their trade rises and falls with events, students and the weather.

Studios are the Dundee enquiry that needs the most care. A games or software firm between releases has a strong pipeline and thin recent income, and a lender reads the income. Contracted work-for-hire is what term lenders read; where there is none, lenders publish different criteria for an asset facility on the hardware or a smaller revolving line, and we set out which of them the case meets.

The trades are the quiet majority. Construction is Dundee's second largest sector at 515 enterprises, 390 of them specialised trades, and they ask for a van, a digger or the cash to carry a contract until the certificate is paid. Asset finance and invoice finance are commonly used for those, and both have lenders that cover Scotland.

An independent shopfront.

Funding types used by Dundee businesses

Funding type	Typically used by	What sizes it
Term loan	Studios, practices and agencies with contracted income and filed accounts	Turnover and filed accounts
Asset finance	Vans, plant, lab kit and hardware for the trades, life sciences and studios	The price of the kit

Each lender publishes its own timescale, and they change. The lender assesses every case on its own numbers.

What lenders see in Dundee

Dundee City had 3,545 VAT or PAYE registered enterprises in March 2025, up from 3,470 in March 2024 (Nomis dataset NM_142_1, read 21 September 2026), a 2% rise against 0.5% for Scotland's registered stock, which the Scottish Government's Businesses in Scotland 2025 put at 175,035 on 3 December 2025. Wholesale and retail leads the city at 620 enterprises, construction follows at 515, then professional, scientific and technical firms at 420 and accommodation and food at 370, of which 345 are food and drink service. Property firms stand at 210 and health at 185. Scotland held 173 thousand businesses on the Nomis basis, 6.3% of the UK, on the ONS release of 24 September 2025.

The Tay Cities Region Deal is the public money with Dundee's name on it. Signed on 17 December 2020 with £150 million from each government, it had drawn down more than £150 million and levered £258 million of other investment while supporting 5,307 jobs, on the Scottish Government's account, against a lifetime target of 6,000 jobs and £400 million. On 23 June 2026 the council welcomed a reshaped programme: £27 million for regional tourism aiming at 320 jobs and a £10 million challenge fund, £5.7 million for HMS Unicorn, £5 million for Discovery Point, and a proposed £15 million for the Livehouse venue to lift its capacity to 3,500, create 150 jobs and, the council says, benefit around 600 local small firms. The council's own Shared Prosperity Fund allocation was £2.44 million for 2025/26, reported on 11 February 2025. Eden Project Dundee, on the former gasworks on East Dock Street, was projected by its promoters in March 2022 to bring 500,000 visitors a year, 200 direct jobs and £27 million of annual economic impact. Every one of those is a public route, not a CapExpand one.

The British Business Bank's devolved nations briefing found 43% of Scottish smaller businesses using external finance in 2024, down three points, while the volume of loans and overdrafts from the largest lenders rose 29%. The Bank of England's Agents wrote in September 2026 that credit supply “continues to outstrip demand” and that borrowing appetite “is still cautious”, which is the shape of Dundee: lenders willing, firms hesitant, and published criteria setting out what each lender will consider.

What changes for a Scottish case

Not every UK lender works in Scotland, and the gap is wider on property than on unsecured and asset lending. For a Dundee pub or restaurant freehold the property type matters as well, because leisure and pub premises are specialist security, and each lender publishes whether it takes them.

Security over a Dundee building is taken under Scots law rather than an English charge, so a lender needs a Scottish solicitor on its panel, and the ones that do not have one drop out whatever the case looks like. That is a coverage check, made on day one, not a judgement on anyone. For property-secured lending we work with UK limited companies and LLPs only, for business and commercial purposes. The Scotland page carries the full table by product.

Where we work around Dundee

The city centre, Broughty Ferry, Lochee, Monifieth and Invergowrie are handled from Nottinghamshire by phone and email, with Arbroath, Forfar, Perth and St Andrews on the same footing. A Carnoustie hotel and a Hilltown takeaway get the same named handler and the same Scotland check.

We work with UK limited companies and LLPs only, for business and commercial purposes. Companies and LLPs registered in Scotland qualify.

The panel behind this page

We have access to a range of UK commercial finance lenders through our principal, White Rose Finance Group Limited. Some of them write unsecured business loans. Lenders set different criteria on trading history, seasonality and credit history, and each lender makes its own decision.

We check each lender’s published criteria first, and your case goes only to lenders whose requirements it meets. How a case is checked against criteria is set out on our how we work page.

Dundee business loan questions

How does CapExpand handle a Dundee enquiry?

We take enquiries from Dundee companies that are trading and borrowing for a commercial purpose. The case goes only to lenders on our panel that lend in Scotland and whose published criteria it meets, and each of those lenders decides for itself.

How does a Dundee games or software studio get a term loan?

On its accounts and its bank statements rather than its pipeline, which is the awkward part for a studio between releases. Each unsecured lender publishes its own minimum trading history and its own view of a director who does not own a home. Contracted work-for-hire income reads far better than a launch forecast.

Are the Tay Cities Deal or the council grants something you can arrange?

No. The Tay Cities Region Deal is a public programme run by the councils and their partners, and the council's Shared Prosperity Fund money goes out through its own calls. We arrange the commercial borrowing beside those schemes and have no part in awarding them.

Can you arrange equipment finance for Dundee firms?

We arrange it; the lender funds it. Computer hardware, medical and laboratory equipment, restaurant and bar kit and construction plant can all go on asset finance, and the case goes only to asset lenders that cover Scotland.

How is CapExpand paid?

We will receive commission from lenders. Different lenders pay different amounts depending on different commission models. For transparency we work with varying commission models including fixed fee, fixed rate of commission and percentage of the amount you borrow. Further details of the commission model, calculation and amount will be disclosed to you throughout your customer journey. Lending is subject to status and the lender's own checks.

Do you work with sole traders in Dundee?

No. We arrange finance for UK limited companies and LLPs only, so we cannot take a sole trader or partnership enquiry forward. Scottish-registered companies and LLPs are included.

Start a Dundee finance enquiry

Two minutes on the form, then a call from the named case handler who will run it. Enquiring does not affect your credit score. If you apply to a lender, it runs its own credit search, which may be recorded on your file. We read your figures against what each lender publishes and put the case only to the lenders whose published criteria it meets, once you have said so.

Start the form

Other cities we cover in Scotland: Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow.

Firms in Dundee that invoice other businesses on terms have their own page: invoice finance in Dundee.

Sources and references

Dundee figures were read on 21 September 2026. Nomis and the Scottish Government count on different bases and are quoted separately; Nomis rounds to the nearest five.

CapExpand Ltd (FRN 1060885) is a credit broker and an Appointed Representative of White Rose Finance Group Limited (FRN 630772), which is directly authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. We are a broker, not a lender. We work with UK limited companies and LLPs only, for business and commercial purposes. We do not provide financial advice.