NatWest has agreed its first “mass market” commercial loan made against the value of intellectual property to a software company that previously banked with Barclays.
The deal has seen Oxfordshire-based Sci-Net, a business software developer for brands such as high-end jeweller Jessica McCormack, borrow more money, more cheaply, than it could under a traditional loan.
Duncan Fergusson, Sci-Net’s owner and managing director, said the £700,000 loan from the country’s largest business bank would enable it to accelerate its software development.
“Every year we are investing hundreds of thousands of pounds in our software. It is hard to keep up that level of investment as a private company and that is why this loan helps,” said Fergusson, 54.
“Traditional loans are limited as to how much
