Bourn, a London-based fintech building a modern, data-driven replacement for the traditional business overdraft, has raised £3.5 million to expand the rollout of its Flexible Trade Account, a real-time working capital solution for small and medium-sized enterprises. The round includes a strategic minority investment from NatWest Group, alongside participation from McPike Global Family Office, Haatch, Love Ventures, Portfolio Ventures, and Aperture.
The new funding will help Bourn deepen its account capabilities, grow its team, and accelerate partnerships with financial institutions and platforms that want to embed working capital directly into the systems SMEs already use. As part of its strategic investment, NatWest aims to gain insights into Bourn’s embedded working-capital model as it evaluates how to support more Mid-Market and business customers with better liquidity tools.
Bourn’s Flexible Trade Account integrates payments, current account functionality, and instant access to secured working capital, powered by real-time data and AI-powered risk modeling. The model is designed to provide overdraft-style flexibility without friction, allowing businesses to fund growth, pay suppliers faster, and manage cash flow more intelligently.
Bourn has been piloting the solution with Investec for several months, working with live SME customers to validate the product as a replacement for legacy overdraft structures. Early results have been described as a potential game-changer, and Bourn is now expanding integrations across banks, ERP systems, accounting platforms, and B2B marketplaces. By positioning itself as infrastructure for embedded SME lending, the company aims to help financial providers deploy receivable-backed working capital at scale while reducing distribution complexity.
KEY QUOTES
“2025 has been a year of validation, proving that SMEs and their funding partners need a more modern, data-driven approach to working capital. This investment round is a huge vote of confidence. It shows that established banks see the same opportunity we do: to bring liquidity closer to the point of need and help businesses fund growth more dynamically. Our goal is to reinvent the business overdraft for SMEs. When working capital flows easily, businesses invest, hire, and grow. That’s how we make finance work for the real economy again.”
Nick Tracey, Co-Founder and CEO of Bourn
“Now more than ever, SMEs need the right support to scale and grow — which is why Bourn’s offering has so much potential. Their founding team combines deep banking expertise with genuine fintech innovation, while their capabilities complement our ambition to help customers access working capital seamlessly through the platforms they already use. Supporting Bourn reinforces our commitment to helping fintechs thrive while ensuring our Commercial Mid-Market customers can access the funding and support they need.”
Ladi Greenstreet, Head of Strategic Investments at NatWest Group
