tomato pay (formerly Fractal), together with untied are delighted to announce that its SMART (SMEs Manage Accounts Receivables and Tax) solution has won its £2.5 million Pool E bid for the Banking Competition Remedies (BCR) Capability and Innovation fund, designed to improve the financial products and services available to small businesses. 

tomato pay and untied will use the BCR bid winnings to save 50,000 businesses a year.

We were so happy to receive press from trade publications AltFi, The Paypers, The Fintech Times, Silicon Canals, and Finextra covering our win, and to get messages of support from the fintech community and beyond.

Nicholas Heller, tomato pay CEO and co-founder said: “We are grateful to the BCR Capability and Innovation Fund panel for selecting tomato pay and untied, and we are excited to take up the opportunity to help the UK economy during these difficult times. Their trust in our ability to support sole traders is a testament to the teams’ execution and vision. In partnership, tomato pay and untied are deeply committed to supporting SMEs with the SMART solution and fulfilling our mission to help the economy recover and prosper. As part of the bid, we will increase our diversity efforts and open a new office outside of London to continue to catalyse new fintech hubs.

Kevin Sefton, untied CEO said: “This award highlights solutions that bring valuable services to SMEs and address gaps in existing business banking propositions. Together we are committed to ensuring that as many businesses as possible take advantage of the unique benefits that SMART brings - from invoicing and payments through to tax optimisation and submission all in one package. SMART combines untied’s market-leading tax simplification with Fractal’s revolutionary invoicing, forecasting and flows in a way that is designed around the needs and banking choices of the sole trader.”

tomato pay and untied’s commitments

• • Continue to strengthen the wider SME-focused financial ecosystem by integrating SMART with partners including accountants and advisors. 
  • Substantially improve the financial health and viability of SMEs in the UK reaching 18,720 SMEs by December 2022.
  • Help SMEs to take control of their customer payment terms by providing them with innovative invoicing and POS tools to incentivise payment.
  • Equip SMEs with simple, scalable and affordable tools to anticipate, prepare and submit tax. 
  • Deliver best-in-class SME financial forecasts and advanced cashflow tools offering data aggregation, tax and insights.
  • Commit to promoting diversity and jobs nationally, creating 22 new jobs and 10 paid internships.
  • Co-invest a £1 from our own finances to every £1 received from BCR.

You can see the press release covering our win here, the original press release about Fractal’s and united's joint bid here, why it is so important for financial providers to throw their support behind sole traders right now here, and unbiased feedback for the SMART solution from sole traders here.

Furthermore you can see our experiences on cultivating a diverse workplace as a long-term strategy here, and our commitment to creating more jobs for young people and outside of London here.

To find out more about the initiative, our partnership with untied or if you are interested in partnering with us to create new SME-focused solutions, you can contact us at partner@tomatopay.co.uk.