In April the government announced £750m of support for those small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) that are most intensively involved in research and development (R&D).
The support package available through Innovate UK, the national innovation agency, was introduced to accelerate loan payments for new and existing customers to help them to continue their innovation projects that may have otherwise been halted or delayed due to the Covid-19 crisis.
Innovate UK will be working with company intelligence platform, DueDil, to deliver loans to businesses in need in record time. DueDil enables Innovate UK to accelerate the lending process by providing authoritative insights on over 4.5 million UK companies in real time, so the Innovate UK Loans Credit Team can quickly assess business suitability for loans and deliver fast decisions to SMEs.
DueDil and Innovate UK have worked together since 2018 when Innovate UK launched their Innovation Loans programme for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with highly innovative late stage projects. Innovate UK approached DueDil to help shape their credit decisioning process in order to assess loan applications at speed with authoritative insights.
This work set the stage for Innovate UK launching the recently announced government loan scheme to support existing and new Innovate UK award holders continue their innovation activities through the pandemic.
Justin Fitzpatrick, Co-founder and CEO of DueDil, commented:
“Innovate UK has a critical role in disbursing the £750m package for the UK’s most research and development intensive small businesses. By enabling Innovate UK to quickly assess business suitability, we help speed up the evaluation process and reduce the time to fund. For many SMEs, having access to financial support during this time is crucial for their survival. It is also vital that we continue to promote small businesses and maintain the UK’s position as a leading innovation hub during and beyond the Covid-19 crisis. We are glad to be playing our part.”
