It was the open-mindedness of Bizcap’s offers that first caught broker Rory Crisp-Jones’s attention: a willingness to extend short-term loans of six figures. That was something he hadn’t seen before and for his clients, it was a game changer.

One of them, a rapidly-growing London law firm with hundreds of staff, was able to secure a £150,000 Bizcap Small Business Loan for 5 months, which it used to hire an additional four lawyers. Within six weeks, following reliable weekly repayments, Bizcap refinanced the £150,000 loan and added a further £160,000.

“That’s ambitious,” said Crisp-Jones. “We don’t have another lender that will do that. The closest we've got is a 12-month term and refi within 4 months.” But for a law firm that’s turning over £20 million annually and growing exponentially, those terms wouldn’t cut it. Like many of Crisp-Jones’ clients, they want to pay down their working capital debts quickly and move on to the next growth opportunity.

Crisp-Jones runs a London-based brokerage that focuses on creating liquidity for businesses across various industries – law, construction, utilities, energy, import/export, car rental and others. His clientele ranges from high net worth individuals to smaller businesses with sub-£5 million turnover, but what they all have in common is that they’re entrepreneurial and want to make moves in the market.

The Human Touch

Jones & Co. began trading in 2015. At the time, says Crisp-Jones, the industry was trending towards computerisation –  algorithms were being set up to conduct underwriting and sometimes even manage the interaction with clients.

“Within six to 12 months, I realised that’s not what clients wanted,” says Crisp-Jones.

They wanted a human being who could help them. Someone to come over and understand their business, what they are trying to achieve and the path they are trying to go down.

At that point he decided that although many brokers were going one way, he would go the other.

“We tried to skinny it down,” he recalls. “Have a smaller selection of funders, attract fewer clients and go deeper with each one.” The focus would be on providing a personalised service that would result in long-term relationships.

Today, Jones & Co has eight lenders on their panel, three staff and a yearly turnover of £1.7 million. “We are a lean operation by design,” he says.

“Those people who went down the automation route are now seeing the success of our method,” says Crisp-Jones. “The market now appears to be going down a more manual approach because the automated approach doesn’t work for the business owner. They don’t want to feel like a number. They want to go back to the old days of banking in the 1990s to early 2000s, where the bank manager would sit with you to understand your business and come up with a plan to assist you in reaching your goals.”

That’s where Bizcap fits in. Our approach to lending is to tailor each loan to the unique circumstances and goals of each customer. We don’t just look at the numbers; we listen to the story. What is the business opportunity at hand? Why did the owner face hurdles in the past and what have they done to overcome them?

Every Bizcap loan application gets reviewed by a human being, and every solution is customised – from the size of the facility, to the loan term, to the repayment amounts and frequency.

When Crisp-Jones met Bizcap UK’s Chief Commercial Officer, Rhys Cunnah, he understood that their values aligned: “We’re keen to do business. We’re driven. We want to succeed, and to provide liquidity working capital for clients.”

“The level of open-mindedness Bizcap has in terms of putting offers out is something I haven't heard of,” says Crisp-Jones, having joined Bizcap UK’s exclusive list of broker partners two months ago. “They’re not afraid to put their hand in their pocket".

Other lenders have tried to be open-minded but when push comes to shove, they haven’t come through. Bizcap do what they say they’ll do.

What’s more, he adds, Bizcap consistently meets the Service Level Agreement times it commits to.

Accommodating Adverse Credit

Another client of Jones & Co. is a contracting business that has an adverse credit history, including multiple County Court Judgments that have restricted it from obtaining funds from other lenders.

Bizcap was willing to give the business a chance to rebuild, starting with a Fast Business Loan of £30,000, which was used to pay a supplier invoice. Two months in, the repayments have been steady and the client has been very happy with the product and the service.

“The problem with contracting within the construction and building sector is that the debtor days can be long,” explains Crisp-Jones. “Invoices can take 90 to 120 days to get paid. As a small to medium sized business, it’s hard to bridge those cash flow gaps.”

“That’s why Bizcap’s products are very useful, as they allow business owners to access credit quite quickly when they are owed money from clients they work with, then settle the loans as soon as they get paid.”

Speed, Transparency and Service

Not only has Bizcap supported Jones & Co. in securing large sums with short terms and supporting clients with adverse credit, it has done so with speed.

“Because of the way we operate as a brokerage, we demand a rapid response from our lenders,” says Crisp-Jones. Due to the nature of working capital borrowing, if Jones & Co. don’t come up with the goods fast, it can lose the deal. Bizcap understands that time is of the essence, and has funded loans for Crisp-Jones’s clients in as little as 3 hours.

It also does so with a high level of transparency and open lines of communication.

“We are in constant contact with the Bizcap UK team, which we don’t have with any other lender,” says Crisp-Jones.

“Bizcap really are second to none,” says Crisp-Jones. “I would highly highly recommend them to any broker that is in the market of providing these types of facilities. You’ll be highly rewarded and you will feel highly satisfied with the service you will be provided with.”

Want to learn more about partnering with Bizcap? Send us your details here and we’ll give you a call.

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