Welcome to the second episode of the Elevator Pitch series 4.
Every week we publish a 30 second pitch from the latest intake of the Elevator Pitch. These leading startups join an alumni group that includes the likes of YPlan, Hassle, import.io and Glow, and has to-date raised over $36m.
In this series we took the founders on a cab ride unlike any other for the most exciting pitch of their lives.
Most people are aware it’s important to keep your personal credit rating in check.
But fewer people know that startups have their own credit ratings, and a typical startup’s financing means there are plenty of chances to mess up your rating for the future.
Keeping you in check
Check Business is one of those startups that fills a basic business need – keeping control of your credit rating.
Larger businesses often buy access to comprehensive credit information but Check Business offers data free of charge.
The company partners with business insights experts Equifax, but is transparent about the fact that it’s their scores being shared.
The idea is to help SMEs understand how their business is viewed by others.
How it started
Founder Conrad Ford says Check Business was born out of the need to attract customers to an existing business called Funding Options.
One of its features was the ability to connect your online accounting data to speed up a finance application.
From there we decided to build on the idea of connecting your data to create helpful tools for managing your business.
Before we knew it our little idea had a life of its own.
To their credit…
Check Business launched in October 2013 and incorporated in April 2014.
It’s a wholly owned subsidiary of Funding Options Ltd, and is backed by both angel investors and a VC fund.
Conrad says the most exciting development so far has been the response from business owners when he got in touch to explain what they do.
To our delight the engagement levels have been extraordinarily high, which tells us that business owners want and need to know about the information that’s published about their business.
Over the next few months, Check Business hopes to develop partnerships with large-scale providers of SME services, to offer a wider range of services tailored to the particular business size, sector and phase in their lifecycle.