Business funding in London
London business funding by product
We take London enquiries from £10,000 upwards for term loans, commercial mortgages and bridging, placed with lenders on our panel and each priced by the lender on the case in front of it.
What we see from London businesses
London enquiries split roughly between hospitality and retail on one side and ecommerce on the other, with restaurants and bars clustered around Soho and Shoreditch.
The London-specific question is margin. Rent in Zone 1 takes a share of revenue that a business in Leeds does not pay, and each lender reads affordability in its own way. The repayment figures each lender offers are set out for you, to weigh against your margin before you settle on a size.
Retail is a steady second. Picture the typical shape of it: a fashion boutique needing stock money for the new season's collection when a traditional bank loan would take six to eight weeks, too late for the seasonal buying window, so the funding has to complete before the season starts. That pattern, stock money on a deadline, is probably the most common London retail enquiry we get, from Camden market traders up to multi-site shops.
Many of London's agencies and professional services firms invoice their clients.
London funding types, and what sizes each one
| Funding type | Typically used by | What sizes it |
|---|---|---|
| Commercial mortgage | Buying or refinancing offices, retail units and mixed-use premises | The value of the premises and the deposit |
| Bridging finance | Auction purchases and deals with a fixed completion deadline | The lower of price and valuation |
Property timelines depend on valuation and legals as much as on the lender. Every case is priced on its own merits.
Where we work in Greater London
Everything happens by phone and email, so there's no difference between a Shoreditch bar and a suburban trade counter as far as the process goes. We work with businesses across Westminster, Camden, Islington, Hackney and the rest of the London boroughs, inside and outside the North Circular.
We work with UK limited companies and LLPs only, for business and commercial purposes.
Why London cases split down the middle
Half the London enquiries we take come from trading businesses, and the arithmetic there is the same as anywhere: an unsecured loan is priced on the accounts, the bank statements and the term.
The other half is property, and it behaves differently. Bridging is priced monthly, with an arrangement fee on top, and London deals are not cheaper than the rest of the country. There are simply more lenders willing to look, which is a different advantage and often the more useful one when a completion date is fixed.
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.
London funding questions
Can I get business funding in London with bad credit?
It depends on the lender and the product. Each lender sets its own view of adverse credit; the age of the mark, whether it is satisfied and the explanation all matter. On the property side each bridging lender publishes its own view too, and security changes what a lender can forgive.
How fast can a London business get funded?
A commercial mortgage or a bridge runs to weeks, because a valuation and legals sit in the middle. Each lender sets its own timing, and we pass on what it says before you start.
Does London rent affect how much I can borrow?
Not directly. Lenders start from revenue, so a Soho restaurant turning over £60k a month is assessed on that figure, and each lender runs its own affordability check, in which outgoings such as rent can count. The repayments each lender offers are set out for you to weigh against your own margins.
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. You are never obliged to accept an offer. Funding is subject to status and the lender's own checks.
Do you work with sole traders in London?
No. We arrange finance for UK limited companies and LLPs only, so we cannot take a sole trader or partnership enquiry forward.
Start a London funding 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 formOther cities we cover in the South East: Brighton, Milton Keynes, Oxford, Portsmouth, Reading, Southampton.
Firms in London that invoice other businesses on terms have their own page: invoice finance in London.
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.