Funding Options is a digital marketplace and commercial finance broker that helps UK small and medium-sized enterprises find business funding. Now operating as part of the Tide group, the platform utilizes Open Banking technology to bridge the gap between traditional banks and alternative lenders. Rather than providing finance directly, Funding Options acts as an intermediary to perform initial eligibility checks across its lending panel without impacting credit scores.
Finance Products Arranged by Funding Options
As a broker marketplace, Funding Options helps businesses access a broad range of funding products supplied by its network of third-party lenders. These financial products cover both immediate working capital requirements and long-term asset investments.
- Business Loans: Unsecured and secured business loans designed for daily cash flow, growth, or commercial projects.
- Asset Finance: Funding solutions that allow businesses to spread the cost of purchasing essential equipment, machinery, or vehicles over time. Specific options include hire purchase, finance lease, operating lease, and contract hire.
- Refinance Facilities: Asset refinance and sale and leaseback agreements that help companies unlock equity from assets already owned.
- Invoice Finance: Factoring and invoice discounting facilities that release funds tied up in outstanding customer invoices.
- Merchant Cash Advance: Flexible financing where repayments are linked directly to daily credit and debit card processing sales.
- Revolving Credit: Lines of credit allowing companies to draw down and repay funds flexibly as capital needs arise.
- Revenue-Based Finance: Business funding structured around ongoing revenue streams.
- Trade and Supply Chain Finance: Solutions engineered to fund stock, import commitments, and supply chain demands.
- Property Finance: Commercial mortgages, property development loans, and bridging facilities.
- Business Credit Cards: Cards tailored to help manage corporate expenditures.
Through accredited lenders on its panel, Funding Options also facilitates access to government-backed lending schemes, including the Growth Guarantee Scheme. Funding Options itself is not an accredited lender under these government schemes.
Who Funding Options Suits Best
Funding Options is aimed primarily at micro-SMEs and small business owners seeking quick, multi-lender eligibility checks. The platform is ideal for business owners who want to evaluate funding choices across several providers simultaneously without undergoing immediate hard credit checks.
Its stated primary specialisms are asset finance, invoice finance, and business loans. Companies searching for specialized Equipment Finance or short-term working capital can use the marketplace to gain a broad overview of potential lender matches.
Eligibility and Deal Sizes
Funding Options does not publish minimum or maximum deal sizes for the funding facilities it arranges. Similarly, it does not publish specific overall criteria regarding sole trader eligibility across its platform. Because Funding Options is a marketplace broker rather than a direct funder, minimum and maximum amounts and applicant eligibility depend entirely on the individual requirements set by the chosen lender on its panel.
Initial suitability checks conducted through Funding Options use soft search technology, ensuring that exploring multi-lender options does not affect a business owner's credit score. Formal credit checks and full underwriting take place only when an applicant moves forward with a specific lender.
How to Access Funding Options
Businesses can access Funding Options through its official online marketplace platform or via independent commercial finance brokers, intermediaries, and partners. Credit broking services offered through Funding Options are provided via Tide Platform Ltd, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority under firm reference number 718743. The entity is registered at Companies House under company number 07739337.
Funding Options Fact Sheet
| Feature | Details |
|---|---|
| Provider Name | Funding Options |
| Parent Group | Tide |
| Business Model | Broker / Marketplace |
| FCA Reference Number | 718743 (Tide Platform Ltd) |
| Companies House Number | 07739337 |
| Core Specialisms | Asset Finance, Invoice Finance, Business Loans |
| Minimum Deal Size | Not published |
| Maximum Deal Size | Not published |
| Sole Trader Availability | Not published |
| Access Routes | Marketplace, Broker, Intermediary, Partners |
Compare Your Business Finance Options with SME Money
Selecting the right commercial finance structure requires clear comparison across the whole market. While digital marketplaces offer automated checks, working alongside a specialist broker provides tailored insights tailored to your industry, security profile, and strategic objectives.
SME Money connects UK businesses with specialist brokers who search over 70 lenders to find the right funding, completely free from the bias of a single bank. Whether you are looking for competitive invoice solutions, flexible business loans, or asset funding, our expert broker network ensures you can evaluate options thoroughly to secure the ideal financial product for your business.