Top commercial broker expands into Plymouth Science Park

One of the region’s premier commercial financial brokers has expanded its operation into Plymouth Science Park and is set to recruit new brokers to join its existing teams based in Plymouth, Bristol and Kingsbridge.

Start Point Finance finds the best deals for clients by working with 90 different banks representing all aspects of the industry, from the High Street, to foreign providers and UK challenger banks.

Since it started trading in 2007, the team has helped hundreds of clients with numerous transactions, the largest of which being £1.7 million, which was for police software.

The team of nine help a variety of different clients – from start-ups to PLCs, the public sector and charities.

‘A commercial finance broker sits between the bank and client,’ explains Tim Jones, Director of Start Point Finance.

‘Clients need finance and traditionally they would go to the bank but it’s becoming increasingly difficult for businesses to build a relationship with a bank which means they may struggle to find working capital.’

The team understand that businesses may stay with their banks for years, and, as such, sometimes might not feel comfortable in negotiating opening offers by a bank.

It means firms often lose out on the chance to drive down the cost of the offered product.

‘We articulate the financial needs of a business to the bank and match those requirements to the best bank to resolve the issue,’ says Tim. ‘We have hundreds of clients and we’re currently growing at around 30% per annum.’

‘We don’t charge a fee as the banks pay us if a transaction is successful, which allows us to provide the best option to the client.'

'Our aim is to always build a long term relationship for the financial journey. We can help with secured or unsecured loans and invoice finance.’

Start Point Finance has a wide range of clients extending across the south west, from farmers to renewable energy projects, bed manufacturers, marketing, yogurt producers, soft play equipment and science firms.

The team says working with them removes risk from the client’s point of view because there’s no fee involved.

‘PSP is a great location for us to be based and there’s already some on-site businesses which are clients. The location allows for easy access for firms to come to see us to see how we can help them.’