ArchOver, the peer-to-peer business lending service, has provided a multi-channel P2P business loan of £1.35 million to TLM Technologies, the convenience store technology provider. TLM will use this finance to move away from its old, restrictive financing model and to boost its growth.
TLM Technologies is a UK tech success story. Its software helps convenience and fuel retailers make smarter and more profitable business decisions, and it has grown since 2015 to now serve blue-chip clients such as Sainsbury’s and Costa Coffee. ArchOver’s P2P loan will enable TLM to support this growth, allowing them to reach their goal of scaling to an international level in several new sectors.
Prior to 2015, TLM Technologies was a small fuel pump maintenance business. Fast forward to today and its expertise within the convenience and fuel sectors (CFS) has firmly established the company as one of the UK’s technology success stories, supporting large-scale, blue chip clients including Costa Coffee and Sainsbury’s in making smarter, more profitable decisions.
It provides the critical services that retailers rely on to keep operational, offering electronic point of sale (EPOS), back office and head office systems designed to unlock the full potential of retail environments. As growth increasingly stems from technology support services, TLM Technologies is focused on introducing new features and functionality that cement its status as a market leader by developing new IP.
With more than 100 employees across the group and the acquisition of Ocean Dynamics equipping the company with in-house software development capabilities, TLM Technologies has the critical resources and development teams in place to scale up operations. However, its previous invoice finance facility was not flexible enough to keep up with the company’s rapid growth and investment needs.
Lee Papper, CEO, TLM, explains, “TLM is a fast-developing company with scope to expand overseas and cross over into targeted new sectors. However, our previous invoice finance facility was not able to meet our needs. We need a funding solution that can be as dynamic as we are so we have the flexibility and certainty to push our business to the next level.”
The company needed to free itself from expensive invoice discounting facilities and secure an injection of working capital to support the future growth of the business.
Together, TLM Technologies and ArchOver have pioneered the first multi-service peer-to-peer business loan using two flagship funding models: Secured & Insured and Secured & Assigned. ArchOver launched this new joint model in February 2017, enabling high-growth companies to raise funds against their accounts receivable and contracted revenue.
In May 2017, an initial £1.1m, split between two loans, was funded over the ArchOver platform. The first enabled TLM to exit their invoice discounting facility by providing £600,000 as a 12-month Secured & Insured loan secured against its accounts receivable. The second was a 12-month, £500,000 Secured & Assigned loan, based on TLM’s contracted revenues from software licenses and service maintenance contracts. A further £250,000 was funded over the ArchOver platform in July 2017 to support rapid business growth expected over the next six months.