whitespace

INDUSTRY USE CASES

Whitespace started in 2014 as a venture capital firm that focused on investing in startups who were able to provide solutions to the challenges their corporate customers were facing. Working closely with startups and corporates, the company developned world-class capabilities to build scalable product fit for global clients. This was the birth of the Whitespace Innovation Lab.

After 2016, the company closed their VC fund and has focused on growing their Innovation Services, Innovation Lab and Innovation Community programs, with the goal of becoming one of Europe’s premiere innovation agencies, powered by the strength of the knowledge network they’ve been building for years. Whitespace works with some of the world’s largest Corporates and collaborates with a network of over 200 of the most innovative European startups.

“Debt funding through the banks can be quite burdensome and expensive. That’s why we looked to the R&D tax credit funding.“

The problem.

Paul Jenkinson, the co-founder and CFO was familiar with both equity and debt funding. He was a veteran of equity finance, having launched a tech fund in 2012 that made over 100 investments. On the debt funding side, he was experienced in using all types of different small funds, the loan guarantee scheme and term loans. But this was the first time he had used R&D tax credit funding.

His experiences with debt finance haven’t always been the most pleasant or straight-forward:

“Overdrafts are a pain because the banks want personal guarantees and it’s burdensome. Not all the directors have the same view in terms of whether they’re comfortable doing that. We rarely do that these days because it’s just quite painful. The same goes for cash flow lending out of the banks – again, extremely painful.”

Working together.

Enter Fundsquire.

Fundsquire represented an easy way for Whitespace to leverage one of their biggest assets – their tech investment and use it for further growth.

“The process from when we got approved by you was really good. The documentation wasn’t too heavy. We got it all signed pretty quick, returned very quickly and the drawdown post process was pretty easy. So that was all really great.”

“The Fundsquire advance allowed us to keep the development momentum. Without the funding, we would have had to slow down development, and wait for the R&D tax credit.”

What financing meant for Whitespace.

Whitespace was a company on a steep growth path at the time, and tech development was prioritised. As a seasoned CFO and ex-VC, Paul was aware of the wide spectrum of potential funding sources the company could access, but equity was expensive and debt inflexible. The company needed to keep their development momentum.

The Fundsquire R&D tax credit loan allowed the company to leverage their best asset, their investment in tech, and invest even more in the growth areas that were a priority at the time.

“The R&D Funding has had a positive impact on our business because we could grow faster and develop quicker.”

The final word.

When asked if he would recommend Fundsquire, Paul said:

“We’ve already recommended you to a lot of companies. Yes, there’s a definite benefit that we want others to access as well.”

Have a question?

No business or path to growth is the same. if you have a question about which funding solution might be best suited to your business, get in touch with us today.

INDUSTRY USE CASES

Whitespace

“Debt funding through the banks can be quite burdensome and expensive. That’s why we looked to the R&D tax credit funding.“

The problem.

Working together.

“The Fundsquire advance allowed us to keep the development momentum. Without the funding, we would have had to slow down development, and wait for the R&D tax credit.”

What financing meant for Whitespace.

“The R&D Funding has had a positive impact on our business because we could grow faster and develop quicker.”

The final word.

“We’ve already recommended you to a lot of companies. Yes, there’s a definite benefit that we want others to access as well.”

Have a question?

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