01Professional services
Funding for professional services.
Minimum average deposits
A firm's value is its people and its client list, neither of which a lender can take security over. That is exactly why funding priced against receivables exists: it is the route for businesses with real revenue and almost nothing to pledge.
02How the money arrives
What your statements actually show.
Underwriting reads your bank account, not your industry. Knowing how revenue reaches the account in this sector is what makes the difference between a file that is understood and one that is misread.
- Revenue shape
- Invoiced on terms, often monthly in arrears, with retainers where the relationship is ongoing and project milestones where it is not. Card is a minor channel except in smaller consumer-facing practices.
- How it reads to a funder
- Steady and highly readable where retainers dominate. Distinctly lumpy where the work is project-based, with month-end clustering as invoices settle together. Retainer income is among the most fundable revenue on this list because it is contractual and recurring.
- Seasonality
- Practice-specific and often sharp. Accounting firms concentrate enormously around filing deadlines; agencies follow client budget cycles and the calendar year; consultancies quieten in mid-summer and late December.
03What it funds
What the money is usually for.
Not a list of everything money can do. These are the things owners in this sector actually come to us for.
- Payroll, which is the dominant cost and falls due long before clients settle
- Hiring ahead of a contract that has been won but not yet invoiced
- Seasonal staffing, particularly through a filing or budget peak
- Software, systems and the technology the work runs on
- Office space, fit-out, or absorbing the cost of a move
Amounts run from $15,000 to $20,000,000, sized against what the account takes in rather than against what the money is for.
04Strength
What strengthens the file here.
The general list is on the qualification page. These are the things that carry particular weight in this sector.
Reads well
- Retainer or contracted recurring revenue, which underwriters weigh heavily
- Client tenure: long relationships read better than a larger number of short ones
- Deposits that recover predictably after each seasonal trough
- A spread of clients rather than one account funding the payroll
05Friction
What complicates it.
None of these is an automatic no. Each one changes what is available, and each one is better raised by you at the start than found in the statements later.
Nothing to secure against
Asset-light is the norm here, so asset-backed funding is usually unavailable and the realistic routes are the receivables-based ones. That is not a limitation of the sector so much as the reason this product category exists.
Client concentration
One client at a large share of revenue is common in agencies and consultancies, and it is read the way construction's single general contractor is read. Losing them changes everything about the repayment.
Revenue that depends on named individuals
Where the work follows a particular partner or principal, funders treat the business as more fragile than the numbers suggest. Documented processes and a broader team change that reading.
A fact that arrives with an explanation is worked with. The same fact found in the statements is a surprise, and surprises cost you terms.
06Which product fits
Not every sector wants the same instrument.
We arrange four. These are the ones that tend to suit professional services, and why. Which one is right for you is decided on your file, not on your sector.
Rates published
Merchant cash advance
The standard route for asset-light firms with steady collections, since it asks for receivables rather than security.
How it worksQuoted per file
Revenue-based financing
Suits sharply seasonal practices, where a fixed debit through the quiet months is the wrong shape.
How it worksQuoted per file
Bridge financing
Fits a signed engagement that has not yet started billing.
How it worksFind out where your file stands.
The application takes about fifteen minutes and asks for 3–6 months of business bank statements. If something on this page describes your business, say so at the start: it is the difference between a file that is read correctly and one that is read twice.