Propel wins ENABLE funding facility

The British Business Bank has today announced two transactions with Propel Finance, the UK’s fastest-growing asset finance provider over the past three years.

The new £75 million ENABLE Funding facility provided by the Bank is complemented by an investment in Propel’s inaugural public securitisation, Velocity 2026-1. This is the first time the Bank has invested in a Public Asset-Backed Securitisation (“ABS”) issuance, having supported Propel with its first private securitisation in 2022.

These transactions demonstrate the Bank’s strategy of supporting business securitisation markets to enhance funding options for lenders that provide finance to UK small and medium enterprises.

The British Business Bank has supported the development of Propel Finance since 2016, helping the lender scale and diversify its funding model, through providing warehouse facilities to fund its business lending.

Propel’s Velocity 2026-1 ABS issuance marks an important step in Propel’s progression into the public markets, attracting seventeen global investors and supporting diversification of its funding and continuing growth in its origination platform. 

The new warehouse funding line via the ENABLE Funding programme shows the British Business Bank’s continued engagement and ability to support delivery partners through different stages of their funding journey – from warehouse growth, through private securitisation, to accessing public markets.

Mark Catton, CEO at Propel (pictured above), said, “The British Business Bank[‘s] support over a number of years has been instrumental in Propel’s growth and our reach into the SME eco-system. When our initial ENABLE Funding facility was established in 2016, we had written around £10 million in asset finance for SMEs. Since 2018, we’ve provided more than £2 billion in funding to over 70,000 businesses.”

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