SME Lender Satago Acquired

The alternative lending market in the U.K. just got smaller.

SME alternative lender Satago has been acquired, reports Friday (Feb. 24) said. Oxygen Finance purchased the firm and will absorb its services to begin offering early payment, finance and cash flow finance solutions for large and small businesses, reports said.

Satago offers SME finance by using a cloud-based solution that integrates directly into a small business’ accounting software. The company claims to be one of only a few that not only provides financing, but can help a business assess and improve the financial standing of its clients. Oxygen tends to focus on larger corporations by offering an early payment discount service, enabling large businesses to get a discount off their supplier bills by paying them early.

In a statement, Oxygen CEO Ben Jackson said acquiring Satago is complementary and will help the company continue its growth.

“Oxygen’s early-payment solutions for large buyers – which facilitates payment to suppliers ahead of contracted terms – is the perfect partner for Satago’s proven business model of giving SME suppliers the tools in their native accounting applications to improve receivables management,” he said. “Combining these capabilities, Oxygen and Satago will be well positioned to lead the market in delivering modern, integrated payment and receivable strategies for large buying organizations and their suppliers, SMEs included.”

In another statement, Satago CEO and founder Steven Renwick said the firm is “really excited to combine the businesses to do more to help U.K. SMEs get paid even faster and improve their cash flow.”

The companies did not reveal financial details of their agreement, and reports did not indicate when the companies expect the transaction to close.

Last year Satago announced a $6.3 million funding round around the same time it began lending to SMEs. The company initially focused on eInvoicing services that helped companies gain insight into how well businesses were paying their own invoices. The funding by ESF Capital coincided with Satago’s decision to launch an invoice financing service.