Financing platform Debite launches with £2.5m pre-seed round to fuel UK start-up growth
Debite, the dynamic financing platform for early-stage companies, has today announced its UK launch with a mission to help businesses more effectively manage their cash flow and maximise their growth potential.
Tackling one of the primary reasons why most start-ups fail, Debite’s Buy Now Pay Later model means customers benefit from smoothing the cost of expensive business payments, such as subscriptions, marketing and inventory, via a flexible and affordable repayment plan.
The platform has been built to serve the needs of early-stage companies that are currently underserved by traditional lenders. Debite will offer dynamic spending limits considerably higher than the typical loan and credit products available to this customer segment, with interest rates starting at 0%. Debite’s long-term ambition is to become a comprehensive banking and financial management solution for underserved early-stage businesses.
Debite will initially offer two main products in the UK – Save & Spend Loans and Boosted Debite Card.
Save & Spend Loans
Debite’s easy-access loans offer instant cash to help businesses manage the high-cost of growth critical initiatives. Whether that be saving on day-to-day operational costs, such as SaaS subscriptions through enabling the purchase of an annual vs monthly payment plans, or supporting spend on key marketing campaigns to drive customer acquisition, Debite’s Save & Spend Loans help scale-up businesses navigate a number of major financial hurdles.
Businesses will be able to access funds, normally unavailable from traditional lenders, of between £5,000 to £50,000 at competitive interest rates starting at 1.40% per month.
Boosted Debite Card
Alongside this, the Boosted Debite Card offers dynamic credit limits that are typically 20 times higher than traditional lenders at 0% interest if paid within 30 days. Similar to Save & Spend, customers will benefit from a range of flexible repayment terms offering greater control over day-to-day cashflow and the power to unlock growth opportunities.
For both products, Debite’s application process is underpinned by its proprietary technology with no personal guarantees required. A lending decision is made within 24 hours, with cash available instantly. Customers are then easily able to track spending and make changes to their repayment plan through an interactive online portal.
Demand for both products has already been impressive with over 100 companies registering on Debite’s pre-launch waiting list requesting access to over £1m of potential credit.
Backing from leading fintech investors
The company has ambitious hiring plans with over 20 new hires across sales, finance, risk, technology and marketing planned by the end of the year. To fuel this growth, Debite completed a £2.5m pre-seed equity funding round, plus debt financing, from fintech funds and angel investors, including backing PlatformXit, co-founded by the former CEO of Mox Bank, one of the first neobanks in Hong Kong; the co-founder of e-wallet firm Papara; and QNBEYOND Ventures, the VC arm of QNB Group, the largest financial institution in the MENA region.
Debite is headquartered in London to reflect the company’s initial focus on the UK.
Unrivalled management team
Debite’s management team comprises a blend of experts in financial services and entrepreneurialism. Co-Founder and CEO, Tayga Baltacıoğlu, is a serial entrepreneur with first-hand experience of the financial challenges facing early-stage companies having successfully built and scaled the global cleaning technology venture, Cleanzy. It was in this role that he realised traditional lenders were failing start-ups through a lack of funding support.
Commenting on the launch, Debite CEO Tayga Baltacıoğlu, said “We are beyond excited to be making our vision a reality with the launch of Debite. So many early-stage companies start out with amazing ambitions and the potential to do incredible things, but issues with managing the heavy burden of operational costs, and a lack of attractive funding options from traditional lenders to help smooth cashflow, means that growth is often stifled. We know this market is ripe for innovation and we have huge growth plans to meet this challenge. We cannot wait to fuel the success of the next generation of business champions.”
Co-Founder and CFO Andres Korin spent 12 years at J.P. Morgan where he served as Vice President in a risk management role. Following this, he founded his consumer fintech start-up and advised other early-stage companies across a range of sectors.
Debite’s third co-Founder is Engin Attar who will serve as Head of Product and Growth. Attar previously worked as a management consultant at Bain & Co. advising clients in the aviation and retail sectors, overseeing projects with a total value of $1.7 billion. He also has experience building and scaling an international start-up, in addition to managing large product and growth teams.
