Cash flow is the quiet killer of otherwise healthy businesses. A company can be profitable on paper and still run out of money waiting for invoices to be paid — a structural problem that has plagued SMEs for as long as trade credit has existed. MarketFinance was founded in London in 2011 to address exactly that gap, offering invoice finance and business loans to small and medium-sized companies that need working capital faster than their customers pay. Its platform connects directly to accounting software, analyses cash flow data in real time, and makes credit decisions in hours rather than weeks. That speed is the product — not just a feature. MarketFinance has partnered with major banks including Barclays and HSBC to distribute its products through their SME client bases, a distribution strategy that gives it reach without requiring it to build a consumer brand from scratch. In the UK's SME lending market, where the incumbent banks retreated significantly after 2008 and never fully returned, platforms like MarketFinance have filled a gap that matters more than most people outside of small business finance appreciate.