Written by the Lendus editorial team. Last updated .
To get a small business loan, look at lenders sized for smaller facilities rather than applying to a mainstream lender built for larger borrowing. Start Up Loans and Capital on Tap both start from £500, and several panel lenders accept 3 to 6 months of trading history and turnover as low as £24,000 to £25,000 a year (Capital on Tap, iwoca), well below the £250,000 turnover some larger lenders require. Documents are lighter for smaller facilities, but a personal guarantee is still typically required.
“Small business loan” usually means two different things at once: a business that is small, and a loan amount that is small. Both change which lenders are realistic. A handful of panel lenders are genuinely built around smaller facilities and lower entry criteria, which matters more for a small business than the headline rate.
| Lender | Min. Loan Amount | Min. Trading History | Min. Turnover |
|---|---|---|---|
| Start Up Loans | £500 | None required | No minimum |
| Capital on Tap | £500 | 12+ months | £24,000 |
| iwoca | £1,000 | 3+ months | £25,000 |
| Liberis | £1,000 | 6+ months (card history) | £5,000/month card sales |
| Tide | £1,000 | 12+ months (credit products) | No stated minimum |
| Nucleus Commercial Finance | £3,000 | 6+ months | £50,000 |
| Capify | £3,500 | 4+ months (MCA) / 6+ months (loan) | £5,000/month (MCA) / £10,000/month (loan) |
| 365 Business Finance | £5,000 | 6+ months | £5,000/month card sales |
| Fleximize | £5,000 | 6+ months | £60,000 |
| YouLend | £5,000 | 6+ months | £5,000/month card sales |
| Bizcap | £10,000 | 6+ months | £120,000 |
Two things are worth noticing. First, the entry-level minimum loan amount ranges from £500 (Start Up Loans, Capital on Tap) to £10,000 (Bizcap), so applying to a lender whose range starts too high wastes time on a facility that isn’t sized for the need. Second, trading history requirements at this end of the market run from none at all (Start Up Loans) to 12 months (Capital on Tap, Tide), noticeably shorter than the 24-month requirement at some larger business loan lenders.
Small business loans typically run from a few hundred pounds up to the low tens of thousands. Start Up Loans caps at £25,000 per director, which fits early-stage funding needs such as initial stock, equipment, or working capital. If the requirement is closer to £50,000 to £150,000, the panel widens to include Nucleus Commercial Finance, Fleximize, and Bizcap, which extend up to £500,000 to £2,000,000 for stronger applicants.
Use the table above to shortlist realistically. A business trading for 4 months with strong card sales fits Capify’s merchant cash advance criteria (4+ months, £5,000/month card sales) better than a term loan lender requiring 12 months. A business with £30,000 annual turnover and 12 months trading fits Capital on Tap (£24,000 minimum, 12+ months) or iwoca (£25,000 minimum, 3+ months), while it falls short of Bizcap’s £120,000 turnover threshold.
Small facilities usually ask for less paperwork than a six-figure application, but the basics are still checked:
| Document | What Lenders Want |
|---|---|
| Bank statements | Last 3–6 months, business account (or Open Banking access) |
| Filed accounts | Where available; less central than for larger loans |
| Card sales history | For merchant cash advance products, usually via the card payment processor |
| ID and proof of address | For the applicant and any 25%+ shareholders |
| Business plan | For Start Up Loans applicants without trading history |
Several lenders in this segment, including iwoca and Capital on Tap, rely on Open Banking rather than manually uploaded statements, which is one reason their decisions are often same-day.
A smaller loan amount doesn’t usually mean lighter personal liability. Bizcap, Fleximize, and Nucleus Commercial Finance all state a personal guarantee from directors is standard, regardless of facility size. Start Up Loans is structured differently: it’s a personal loan to the founder rather than a business loan, so the founder is directly liable by design rather than through a separate guarantee document. Reading exactly what’s being signed matters as much at £5,000 as it does at £50,000.
Decision speed at this end of the market is generally fast: iwoca, Capital on Tap, Bizcap, Fleximize, Capify, and Nucleus Commercial Finance all state decisions within 24 hours, with Capital on Tap sometimes deciding within minutes via Open Banking. Start Up Loans is the exception at 4 to 8 weeks, reflecting its business plan review process rather than a simple credit decision. When offers come back, compare the total cost (not just the monthly figure), and remember that a term loan’s APR and a merchant cash advance’s factor rate are priced on entirely different bases, so converting to a total repayable amount is the only reliable way to compare them.
At this end of the market, lenders typically look more favourably on applications where the requested amount clearly matches a specific purpose, such as stock for a confirmed order, a piece of equipment, or a short-term cash flow gap, rather than an open-ended request. Consistent bank account activity over the trading period assessed (whether that’s 3 months for iwoca or 12 months for Capital on Tap) tends to matter more than a single strong month, since lenders such as iwoca and Capital on Tap draw directly on Open Banking data to assess trading patterns. For card-based businesses considering a merchant cash advance from 365 Business Finance, Capify, Liberis, or YouLend, a steady or growing monthly card sales volume is the main figure being assessed, more so than the credit score itself.
Smaller, faster-decision facilities tend to carry higher representative APRs than larger, slower-underwritten ones, reflecting the lender’s reduced ability to rely on a long trading record. Start Up Loans is the exception, charging a fixed 6% APR regardless of loan size because the scheme is priced uniformly. Among the term-loan lenders in this segment, Nucleus Commercial Finance quotes a representative 36% APR and Bizcap 43.2%, while Capital on Tap and iwoca sit at the top of the panel at 49.8% and 49.9% APR representative. Merchant cash advance products from 365 Business Finance, Capify, Liberis, and YouLend don’t quote an APR at all; they’re priced as a factor rate, typically 1.1x to 1.5x the amount advanced, repaid as a percentage of card sales rather than on a fixed schedule.
Lendus is an introducer, not a lender, not a credit broker, and does not give regulated financial advice. Lendus does not approve or decline applications; every lending decision sits with the individual lender named above, and the amount, turnover, and trading history figures reflect what each lender states about its own products, which can change over time.
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