Sonovate
A securitisation-funded specialist financing recruitment, staffing and consultancy receivables, advancing up to 100 per cent of invoice value with no concentration limits, on facilities to around £10m.
What they do
Sonovate funds contract, permanent and statement-of-work receivables for recruitment agencies, staffing groups, consultancies and labour marketplaces, combining the funding with the back-office platform that raises the invoices and pays the workers. Advances reach 100 per cent of invoice value against a market norm of 80 to 90 per cent, bad debt protection at 95 per cent is standard, and there are no concentration limits, which matters in an industry where one client can be most of the ledger. Contracts roll on thirty days. Funding comes from securitisations arranged with DZ Bank, M&G, Lloyds and BNP Paribas, most recently a £210m facility in 2026. Nine currencies are supported.
Where they fit in a lower-mid-market raise
For a staffing-sector acquisition this is the working-capital answer, and often the only one that works: contractor payroll has to be funded weekly while clients pay monthly, and a conventional invoice discounter will not advance enough or will cap the largest debtor. Facilities reaching around £10m mean it can support a group of real size, and the platform reduces the back-office cost of running a contract book.
Where they are not the fit
Everything outside contingent labour and contract services is outside the product. A business without recruitment or consultancy receivables has nothing here, however good the ledger. Pricing combines a platform fee with a discount margin and is not published, so it needs comparing against a conventional facility on total cost rather than headline rate.
Published terms
- Pricing
- Not published
- Speed to terms
- Funds within 24 hours (withdrawal 1-2 business days); rolling 30-day contracts, no long-term lock-in
- Sponsored or sponsorless
- Both (predominantly owner-managed agencies; scales to enterprise staffing groups)
- Where they lend
- + international; multi-currency (up to 9 currencies); supports cross-border placements
- How they decide
- Tech-led platform; biometric onboarding, real-time monitoring; direct + partner-originated; securitisation-funded. Authority is delegated below committee on at least part of the book
- Security
- Receivables
- Covenants
- Springing covenant, tested only when a trigger is hit
- Personal guarantee
- Not typically required on the published terms: Sonovate states it does not ask for personal guarantees on its invoice funding
As published by the lender and last reviewed June 2026. Terms quoted on a deal are set by the credit, not by a published band.
What rules a deal out
Stated limits, taken from Sonovate’s own published criteria. A limit is where a lender starts from, not where it always ends: several of these move on a strong enough credit.
- Outside contingent-labour or contract-services receivables
- No appetite in adult, crypto, gambling, non contract labour sectors or weapons
How they sit against the category
- Its published ceiling is £10m; 19 of the 40 asset-based lenders here go at least as high.
- Like 29 of the 40, it publishes no indicative price — a margin comes from a conversation, not a page.
Counted across the 40 asset-based & asset-finance lenders in this directory, on what each one publishes. What a lender discloses and what it will do are different things.
Questions this page answers
How large a facility does Sonovate write?
Published facilities run £1m to £10m. A band is what a lender states it will do, not what it will do on a given credit.
How quickly does Sonovate move?
Funds within 24 hours (withdrawal 1-2 business days); rolling 30-day contracts, no long-term lock-in. Published timetables describe a clean case; anything unusual in the security or the structure adds to them.
Does Sonovate lend to companies without a private-equity sponsor?
Yes. Sonovate lends to owner-managed and sponsor-backed borrowers alike, so a company with no private-equity backer is not out of scope on that ground.
Where does Sonovate lend?
+ international; multi-currency (up to 9 currencies); supports cross-border placements.
What covenants does Sonovate set?
Springing covenant, tested only when a trigger is hit. A covenant package is negotiated on the facility; the published style is where the negotiation starts.
Does Sonovate require a personal guarantee?
No, on its own published terms. Sonovate states that it does not ask for personal guarantees on its invoice funding for recruitment, contractor and staffing businesses.
On the record
2026: Announced £210m funding facility (DZ BANK & M&G), funding in nine currencies, expanding securitisation (sonovate.com.
October 2023: Increased securitisation to £240m (Lloyds £100m senior, BNP Paribas £100m, M&G £40m) (ffnews / FinTech Futures.
Sources: sonovate.com · ffnews.com
This profile is a curated reference note drawn from public sources, not financial advice or a recommendation. Appetite and terms change; a lender's fit for a given credit is established by approaching it, not inferred from a page.