Finance Solutions That Work As Hard As You Do

You’re here because you scanned our scorecard at Scarcroft – which probably means you’ve got a few holes left to play. Bookmark this page. We’ll still be here when you’re back in the clubhouse.

I’m Andy Bissett, and I run Shadowfax Funding Solutions. We’re based in Wetherby, we’re FCA authorised, and we spend our days finding the right funding for businesses across Yorkshire and beyond. Not the easiest funding. Not the cheapest on paper. The right funding – the kind that makes sense when you look at what you’re actually trying to achieve.

Why Asset Finance Might Be Worth A Conversation

If you’re running a business, you’ll know the pattern. Equipment needs replacing. Vehicles need upgrading. Technology moves faster than your capital expenditure budget. You can write a cheque and watch your cash reserves drop, or you can spread the cost and keep that working capital where it’s actually working.

Asset finance lets you do the second one.

We arrange funding for:

Vehicles – company cars, vans, HGVs, specialist vehicles. Whether you’re replacing one or running a fleet.

Plant & Machinery – construction equipment, manufacturing machinery, agricultural kit. If it’s got a value and you need it to operate, we can usually fund it.

IT & Technology – servers, telecoms systems, point-of-sale equipment, software packages. The stuff that’s essential one day and outdated three years later.

Medical & Dental Equipment – diagnostic machines, treatment equipment, practice fit-outs.

Renewable Energy Installations – solar panels, heat pumps, battery storage. Increasingly, the kit that makes the business cheaper to run long-term.

The principle’s straightforward. You get the equipment now. You pay for it over an agreed term – usually 2 to 5 years, sometimes longer depending on what it is. The payments are fixed, predictable, and they sit against the income that equipment generates.

What makes it more interesting than a standard loan is the structure. Hire purchase means you own it at the end. Finance lease means lower payments and you hand it back or refinance. Operating lease means it stays off your balance sheet entirely.

Which one’s right depends on your situation – what you need the kit for, how long you’ll use it, what your accountant’s telling you about capital allowances, and what your cash flow looks like month to month.

We don’t sell these products. We arrange them. That’s an important distinction. We’ve got access to lenders you can’t approach directly – funders who only work through brokers, and who’ve got rates and terms that won’t be on the high street. We know which ones will say yes to your sector, your circumstances, your specific ask.

After 20 years in banking – RBS, Yorkshire Bank, Aldermore – I’ve sat on both sides of these conversations. I know what makes an application work and what makes it stall. That matters when you’re trying to get something over the line quickly, or when your situation’s got a complexity that needs explaining properly.

If Property’s Part Of The Plan

Some of you will have been thinking about buying your commercial premises for a while now. Rent’s predictable, but it’s also dead money. Ownership gives you control, an asset on the balance sheet, and eventually, no landlord.

We arrange:

Commercial mortgages for business premises – offices, warehouses, retail units, industrial space.

Buy-to-let finance for residential property investment.

Bridging loans when you need to move quickly or there’s something unconventional about the deal.

Development finance for ground-up builds, conversions, refurbishments.

Auction finance when you’ve found something good and you’ve got 28 days to complete.

The lending here is different from residential mortgages. The questions are different. It’s less about your salary multiple and more about what the property does – the rent it generates, the value it adds to your business, the exit strategy if you’re developing.

We work with high street banks, challenger banks, private banks, and specialist property lenders. Some will lend at 65% LTV and want pristine financials. Others will go to 80% if the deal stacks up. Some care about your sector. Others just care about the asset.

Property finance is rarely urgent until it suddenly is – you’ve found the right unit, someone else is interested, the vendor wants to move quickly. That’s when having someone who knows which lender to approach first becomes useful. We don’t scatter-gun applications. We place them carefully, with the funder we think will say yes.

If Your Cash Flow’s Stuck In Unpaid Invoices

This one’s harder to explain at a golf club, because it sounds like you’re in trouble. You’re usually not. You’re just growing, or you’re dealing with customers who pay on 60-day terms while your suppliers want payment in 30.

Invoice finance releases the cash that’s already yours – it’s just sitting in an unpaid invoice. You can access up to 90% of an invoice’s value within 24 hours of raising it. The rest comes when your customer pays, minus our fees.

It’s not a loan. It’s an advance against your own sales. And for businesses with lumpy cash flow, long payment terms, or growth that’s running ahead of available cash, it’s often the difference between taking on new work and having to turn it down.

We arrange:

Confidential Invoice Discounting – your customers never know it’s happening. You keep control of your sales ledger.

Factoring – we take over the credit control function. Your customers know. Your admin burden drops.

Selective Invoice Finance – you choose which invoices to fund. Useful if you’ve got one big, slow-paying customer and everyone else pays on time.

This isn’t for everyone. But if you’ve ever had to delay your own supplier payments because a customer’s invoice is still outstanding, or if you’ve turned down work because you couldn’t fund the upfront costs, it’s worth a conversation.

How We Actually Work

We’re a broker, not a lender. That means we don’t hold the money – we access it. From high street banks, challenger banks, specialist funders, private credit providers. Lenders you’ve heard of and lenders you haven’t, because they don’t deal with the public directly.

When you come to us, we’ll ask about what you need, what you’re trying to achieve, and what your business looks like financially. Then we’ll tell you what’s possible, what’s realistic, and what we think makes most sense.

If it doesn’t make sense, we’ll tell you that too. There’s no point arranging something that works on paper but doesn’t work for your business in practice.

We’re paid by the lender – a commission that’s baked into the arrangement, not added on top. You’re not charged for our time. You’re not charged for applications that don’t proceed. You’re charged nothing unless we successfully arrange your funding and it completes.

The process from here is simple:

1. You request a quote (form’s below)
2. We’ll call you for a proper conversation – usually 20 minutes, sometimes less
3. If it’s a fit, we’ll ask for the paperwork (accounts, bank statements, ID – the usual)
4. We’ll approach the lender we think is right
5. They’ll make a decision, usually within a few days
6. If they say yes, we manage the paperwork through to completion

Most asset finance completes within two weeks. Property takes longer – four to eight weeks typically, sometimes faster for bridging. Invoice finance can be in place within a week if your books are straightforward.

Why This Matters Now

Interest rates have been interesting lately. They’ve come down from where they were, but they’re not back to 2021 levels and they probably won’t be. That changes the calculation on some of this.

Holding onto cash is more expensive than it used to be – if you’re spending £50k on a vehicle, that’s £50k that isn’t earning interest, covering other costs, or sitting there in case something unexpected comes up.

Equally, borrowing costs more than it did. So the question isn’t “should I finance this?” – it’s “does financing this still make more sense than the alternatives?”

Usually, it does. Particularly for assets that generate income, save costs, or prevent bigger problems down the line. But it’s not automatic anymore. It needs to be a conscious decision, and it needs to be structured properly.

What Happens Next

If any of this sounds relevant, fill in the form below. It’s quick – name, business, what you’re looking to fund, rough amount.

We’ll give you a call within 24 hours on a working day. Usually sooner.

No pressure, no obligation, no cost. Just a conversation about whether we can help.

And if you’re still mid-round – enjoy the rest of your game.

---

Request A Quote

Your Details:

• Full Name
• Email Address
• Phone Number

Your Business:

• Business Name
• Industry/Sector
• Approximate Turnover

What You’re Looking To Fund:

• Asset/Equipment Finance
• Property Finance
• Invoice Finance
• Not Sure – Need Advice

Amount Required: £

Brief Description Of What You Need: [Text box]

How Soon Do You Need This?

• Within 2 weeks
• Within a month
• Within 3 months
• Just exploring options

[Submit Quote Request]

---

About Shadowfax Funding Solutions

We’re based in Wetherby, authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA Reference: 937211), and we’ve been doing this since 2020. Before that, I spent 20 years in banking – business development at RBS, specialist invoice finance at Yorkshire Bank and Aldermore, seeing thousands of applications and learning what makes them work.

My wife Ali handles compliance. Steve Smith runs our property side. Between us, we’ve got nearly 50 years of experience in commercial finance, and we’ve seen most situations at least twice.