"The due diligence process was quick and thorough, and the money raised was used to buy out the existing shareholders, for start-up costs and to have a reasonable sum of working capital to grow the business."

"Following a successful fund-raise, The Route – Finance  implemented a monitoring regime that had a light touch, but was thorough and comprehensive, for the interest of all parties. Further, Route were always on hand to address queries during the lifetime of the agreement, and proactively support a flexible range of funding approaches to address a dynamic and evolving Company business plan. Specifically, Route were able to effectively and economically manage a loan roll-over for an additional period, allowing the growing Company to preserve its cash flow for immediate business development priorities. Without hesitation I would work with The Route – Finance again and would recommend their service to organisations in need of a responsive, nimble and professional funding partner."

"Providing information has been The Route's core strength in general and this is certainly true for the Private Debt Platform as well. Information is thorough and available, queries are responded to quickly and never ignored. A real strength in my view.  The Route is targeting the long-term relationship rather than maximising fees. Overall a very solid platform."

The Route do an excellent job in sourcing these secured loans.  I will be interested to see how this sector develops as existing financing options roll off of the books of SMEs and they look to renew with their banks.

"The Route – Finance was a vital source of working capital at a critical stage of my business' development. When other finance options were not credible or of the right scale, The Route were able to take the time to review and assess the business case, and then tailor a package of funding that met the needs of the project".

"As always, the team looked to overcome obstacles and find a way to complete in line with the initial terms offered. The individual approach to structuring and delivering a deal such as this, does very much set them apart in the market and I consider them an invaluable funding partner in complex deals.”

"The Route – Finance  facility was ideal in filling a gap left by bank lenders for our type of asset finance. And they were much more straight forward in negotiation that the conventional asset based lenders"

"We would have no hesitation in recommending any perspective borrower to The Route – Finance , with the confidence that if there is a viable development project presented, then Route will provide their full commitment to it.  The property market is fraught with fee earners which can often over burden a project and deem it non viable and we applaud a lender that is looking at ways to reduce borrowing costs to its clients".

"We were introduced to The Route – Finance  by a third party broker that we have worked with previously, and we are extremely grateful that he has brokered a relationship that we see as being on going for many years to come".

This is an approach that I would recommend to entrepreneurs for various reasons. These include costs, which were very reasonable by market standards, speed of delivery and concentration on critical factors rather than bureaucratic considerations. At the end of the day the raise was a success. The best endorsement of all.