Bourn secures £3.5m to embed receivables-backed working capital in bank accounts
This article covers Bourn, a London fintech startup, which has raised £3.5m to accelerate roll-out of its Flexible Trade Account. The development aims to support UK small and medium-sized enterprises by embedding receivable-backed working capital into bank accounts, ERP systems and marketplaces to replace traditional overdrafts.
Bourn, a London fintech startup, has raised £3.5 million to accelerate roll-out of its Flexible Trade Account, a product aimed at replacing traditional business overdrafts with an embedded working-capital facility for small and medium-sized enterprises. The funding will support product development, team growth and partnerships to integrate working capital directly into the systems businesses already use.
Why it matters
Access to reliable, flexible working capital remains a persistent problem for UK SMEs. Traditional overdrafts can be slow to approve, poorly integrated with accounting workflows and limited by manual underwriting. By embedding funding into bank accounts, ERP systems and marketplaces, Bourn aims to reduce friction in the flow of receivable-backed finance so businesses can pay suppliers faster and smooth cash flow without taking on inappropriate debt.
This matters for the broader economy because smoother working capital can accelerate hiring and investment at smaller firms, a long-standing policy focus for UK business support and finance reform.
Inside the product
Bourn’s offering is centred on the Flexible Trade Account (FTA). The FTA combines payments and current account functionality with instant access to secured working capital backed by receivables. It runs on real-time data and an AI-driven risk engine to size and price facilities dynamically.
The design is explicitly embedded: Bourn integrates with banks, ERP systems, accounting platforms and B2B marketplaces so funding is available inside the financial workflows businesses already use. That reduces distribution friction for finance providers and shortens time to funding for customers.
The company says it has been piloting the FTA with Investec for several months and that initial results have been positive, with the bank describing the solution as a potential 'game-changer' for the industry.
In the announcement, Nick Tracey, Co-founder and CEO of Bourn, said:
2025 has been a year of validation, proving that SMEs and their funding partners need a more modern, data-driven approach to working capital. This investment round is a huge vote of confidence. It shows that established banks see the same opportunity we do: to bring liquidity closer to the point of need and help businesses fund growth more dynamically.
Our goal is to reinvent the business overdraft for SMEs. When working capital flows easily, businesses invest, hire, and grow. That’s how we make finance work for the real economy again.
Who are the investors?
Bourn’s £3.5 million round includes a strategic minority investment from NatWest Group and participation from McPike Global Family Office, Haatch, Love Ventures, Portfolio Ventures and Aperture. The capital is earmarked for product development, hiring and scaling distribution partnerships.
NatWest’s stake is explicitly strategic: the bank says it intends to learn from Bourn’s embedded model and explore how that capability could be used to improve working-capital access for its Commercial Mid-Market and broader business customers.
In the announcement, Ladi Greenstreet, Head of Strategic Investments at NatWest Group, added:
Now more than ever, SMEs need the right support to scale and grow - which is why Bourn’s offering has so much potential. Their founding team combines deep banking expertise with genuine fintech innovation, while their capabilities complement our ambition to help customers access working capital seamlessly through the platforms they already use. Supporting Bourn reinforces our commitment to helping fintechs thrive while ensuring our Commercial Mid-Market customers can access the funding and support they need.
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Founder perspective
Tracey frames the round as validation that incumbent banks and finance partners see the same product opportunity: embedding liquidity where businesses already operate. The immediate priorities he set out are to deepen account functionality, extend partner integrations and grow the team to support commercial roll-out.
That approach positions Bourn more as an infrastructure provider for embedded SME finance than as a direct lender in every market segment. The company’s strategy is to let banks and platforms distribute receivable-backed facilities while Bourn supplies the underlying underwriting and technology.
The bigger picture
Bourn’s raise sits within a broader trend: embedded finance has moved from experimentation to commercial deployment, and working-capital products are a focal point for fintechs and traditional banks alike. The deal also signals continuing investor appetite for practical fintech infrastructure that reduces operational complexity for banks and unlocks faster funding for smaller firms.
For UK policy makers and fintech investors, the story underscores how partnerships between banks and fintechs are being used to address SME finance gaps without requiring entirely new distribution channels. As governance and data standards evolve across accounting and payments systems, companies that can reliably integrate and price receivable-backed facilities will influence how SMEs access short-term finance across the UK and Europe.
They've invested in Bourn
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| Investor | Sector | Stage | Activity | Team | Connect |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 NatWest Group | 2 investments investments | more info | |||
 McPike Global Family Office | 1 investment investment | more info | |||
 Haatch | 30 investments investments | 7 contacts contacts | |||
 Love Ventures | 10 investments investments | 4 contacts contacts | |||
 Portfolio Ventures | 23 investments investments | 3 contacts contacts | |||
 Aperture | 3 investments investments | more info |
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