Timelio’s Charlotte Petris Helping Small Grow

Large superannuation funds are preparing to enter the invoice financing market via the award-winning fintech start-up Timelio, which has created a peer-to-peer platform to provide capital to small companies seeking to expand. Timelio was founded by New Zealand-born Charlotte Petris and husband Andrew in 2014 after the couple moved to Australia from Singapore.

Melbourne-based Timelio facilitated loans of A$10 million during its first year of operation in 2015, by allowing small businesses to access funding based on the amount of money owed to them on unpaid invoices.

Timelio offers interest rates of less than 1 per cent a month for low-risk borrowers and up to 2 per cent a month for higher-risk borrowers. Pricing is assessed on a range of factors, including the credit worthiness of a small business’s big customers. The average invoice size is currently A$40,000.

Petris says invoice financing has historically been stigmatised and many businesses say the quality of service from existing players is poor.

Petris trained as an accountant and worked as a banker at Royal Bank of Scotland and Credit Suisse in London.

Just before Christmas in 2015, Timelio facilitated $1 million of loans on one day after banks began closing for the holidays, telling customers to come back and talk to them in the middle of January.

“It is a slow process that can take months and there is a perception invoice financing is expensive. We haven’t had one customer say they have had good experience with their invoice finance,” she says. “We are offering a competitive rate of finance without the additional costs, along with better customer service and experience.”

Timelio was recently awarded the “Game Changer of the Year Award” sponsored by Visa and the “Overall Award for Outstanding Excellence” sponsored by Optus at the OPTUS My Business Awards in Sydney.

Original article by James Eyers, The Sydney Morning Herald, February 24, 2016.