Start-Up Loans Supports Young Entrepreneurs, Now Using Intelligence Powered by AgencyUK

Start-Up Loans, the £112m initiative chaired by former Dragon James Caan that helps thousands of young people gain access to vital funding for their start-up have partnered with AgencyUK to advance and re-launch their CRM (customer relationship management) platform.

The system has been designed to allow extensive and secure data sharing between Start-Up Loans and their ever-expanding network of loan delivery partners, an essential tool in administering such a scheme.

Recently out of its £10m pilot phase, the Start-up Loans Company is now looking to scale-up its operation and is expected to help start 25,000 new businesses by 2015. To date, the company have received over 20,000 applications, and approved almost 5,000  loans, totalling more than £21m.

The Start-Up Loans Company was initially set up to help budding entrepreneurs aged between 18 and 30 years old to access funding. However, a recommendation by Lord Young to the Prime Minister suggests that the age cap could soon be removed altogether, promoting the creation of micro-businesses (those with fewer than 10 employees), which make up 95% of all businesses in the UK and which have been identified as a key contributor to the recovery of the UK economy.

“With the pilot scheme being such a success, we now have a greater reach and a higher number of applications to process. The CRM system that has been developed in partnership with AgencyUK will allow us to efficiently and successfully deal with this demand and provides the technology we need to support us in fulfilling the scheme’s full potential.” says Tim Sawyer, CEO, Start-Up Loans Company.

Bath-based communications firm AgencyUK, have worked with large-scale organisations including the AA, BT and BSM, and have been working closely with the Start-Up Loans team for a number of months.

Saman Mansourpour, Managing Partner at AgencyUK, said: “We’re delighted to be involved with an organisation like Start-Up Loans that is making a measurable impact on businesses and individuals every day. We nurture our entrepreneurial spirit within AgencyUK, and we know how important funding is to give flight to these new initiatives. These businesses are absolutely vital to the financial future of the UK and are contributing directly to our economic recovery”.