A Financial Lifeline for Businesses

Helping businesses develop and grow by providing valuable finance is something Rivers Finance Group has been doing for over a decade.

A Lifeline IT client since 2017, the company was founded 15 years ago and has gone from strength to strength as an independent business.

We talk to Executive Chairman and Founder Ratan Daryani to find out more.

We work through two main subsidiaries, Rivers Leasing Plc and Rivers Funding. One of the things that really makes us stand out is that we are non-sector specific, so are open to lending to businesses in just about any area, where some lenders rule out certain sectors. Our team of Business Finance Specialists are experienced professionals who aim to understand businesses, business owners and what they want to achieve.

When was the business founded and what changes have you seen in the past few years?
Rivers was first established in 2010 and despite the wider economic challenges, we have seen business grow organically at a steady pace. We have won multiple awards and were named in the prestigious Financial Times FT1000 – Europe’s Fastest Growing Companies, for four consecutive years from 2017 to 2020.

What is your role within the business?
Helping businesses thrive has very much been the thread that has run through my whole career. My focus within the company is on the strategy, growth and future direction of Rivers.

As a sector, what are the opportunities/challenges that the company faces?
Alternative lenders play an essential role in supporting British SMEs, often filling a gap and providing funding for businesses where high street banks can’t. Since the 2008 financial crisis, banks have been much more cautious about lending, and this has provided opportunities for alternative lenders like ourselves to step in and fill the gap.

Because they are businesses themselves, non-bank lenders understand the challenges and opportunities of entrepreneurialism and in many cases provide more tailored solutions for cash flow and business development.

How important is IT to your business?
Like any modern business, IT is an essential part of what we do – it’s how we all communicate and, ultimately, it’s how deals get done. Security, efficiency and reliability are core values of our business, so we rely on our IT systems to reflect that, and we are grateful to Lifeline IT for delivering it.

How important is your relationship with Lifeline IT?
Very! Without them we wouldn’t have reliable, operational systems, and we wouldn’t be able to get on with doing what we do best, which is providing business funding solutions to SMEs!