Fintech equipal secured £16.25 mn in combined funding to expand its UK equipment finance platform and recruit across business development, marketing, operations, credit and data. The London-based startup expects to grow its team to 12 employees during the next year, according to Beinsure.
The package includes a £1.25 mn equity investment and a £15 mn forward-flow facility from Altum Capital Management. The facility combines initial full lease funding with contingent junior funding.
Altum Capital supplied both the equity investment and the lending capacity.
Founder Eamonn McMahon said completing the transaction marks an important step for the business. He said disciplined credit underwriting, operational performance and a strong customer focus helped equipal secure the investment.
McMahon added the funding structure leaves room for additional senior financing in the coming years while giving the company greater operating flexibility.
While the market environment has been challenging, our operating resilience and discipline on credit, while keeping the customer front and centre, has helped us get here. The structure of this deal allows for additional scale with senior funding in the years ahead and critically, provides us with operating flexibility.
Eamonn McMahon, founder of equipal
“We look forward to scaling up, in partnership with our new shareholders and funders, Altum Capital”, Eamonn McMahon said.
Founded by former investment banker Eamonn McMahon, equipal launched in 2021 as a technology-driven provider of business equipment finance. Its platform connects with more than 75 equipment vendors across the UK, allowing businesses to arrange fully digital asset finance at the point of sale.
The company finances equipment worth up to £250k. Customers across manufacturing and transport use the platform to fund assets including CNC machines and coaches with repayment terms extending up to five years.
According to Beinsure, equipal developed its own technology to replace the slow, document-heavy financing process traditionally used in equipment leasing. The company reported a default rate of 1.26% with no credit losses so far. It also said 69% of customers returned for additional financing after using the platform once.
The transaction comes as investors continue allocating capital to SME-focused financial platforms, specialist lenders and embedded finance providers.
equipal said the latest investment arrives during a difficult period for platform lenders and the wider private credit market, where many smaller platforms continue to face tighter investor appetite.
