Major backing for pioneering Scottish-designed SME late payment solution

Dundee University graduate’s Steven Renwick, 36, who hails from the city’s Barnhill area, won the major backing for Satago (Latin for satisfying a creditor) from ESF Capital, an institutional peer-to-peer accelerator business..

The cashflow solution for Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs) was inspired by Mr Renwick’s own businessman father’s problems in the area and combines single-invoice financing with a free, online credit control platform for SMEs.

Mr Renwick, who founded Satago in London in 2012, designed the platform’s technology to connect with a company’s software to help them chase late payments and improve their cashflow, and intends to help businesses assess and improve their financial health and evaluate credit risk.

The start-up claims that 1,000 small businesses have signed up to the platform to date and says it is able to finance up to £50,000 per client – from £500.

The funding, which comprises of an initial £3m credit line and an equity investment of £1.6m, will facilitate the launch of Satago’s credit control platform – which has been in pilot since January this year.

Late payment is a key cause of SME insolvency, and Satago’s technology aims to give smaller companies the same level of credit control as major corporations is seen as a significant advancement.

By giving SMEs the tools to automate the process, Satago can reduce the time and effort they spend on credit control to ultimately be paid faster.

Satago’s financing agreement with ESF includes potential for additional equity and debt funding.

Mr Renwick, a biochemistry graduate from Dundee University, moved into financial services after gaining a Master of Business Administration degree at Oxford.

Before starting Satago he worked at a leading European internet incubator, helping launch eCommerce companies around the world.

He said: “Late payments are a perennial issue for SMEs, but with this support from ESF Capital, Satago can put SMEs in full control.

“We improve clients’ financial health before offering them finance, and we’re excited to now offer these capabilities to a much wider audience.”

Steven became aware of the importance of cashflow through the family firm Caltech Lifts in Dundee set up by his father Howard and now run by Steven’s brothers Andrew and Fraser.

He said: “As I was growing up my father would often comment on the difficulties caused to businesses by late payments, and I wanted to do something to tackle this issue.”