How Tide is helping London’s small businesses save time and money
The UK’s entrepreneurial spirit is thriving – almost 900,000 new businesses were established in 2023 and 2024 looks to have surpassed that record figure.
Startups across wholesale, retail, hospitality and professional services sectors are emerging every day. However, 33% of small businesses feel there aren’t enough hours in the day to get everything done. The burden of managing day-to-day finance admin is leaving little time for growth and innovation.
That’s where Tide comes in. As the UK’s leading business financial platform, we offer small business owners a solution to streamline their financial administrative tasks.
With one app, entrepreneurs can manage much of their business, freeing up their valuable resources to focus on what truly matters – growing their company.
Transforming business banking
Since launching in 2017, Tide has revolutionised how small businesses manage their finances. Traditional banking had long been dominated by slow, outdated systems that don’t cater to the needs of busy entrepreneurs.
We saw the opportunity to change this, and entered the market in 2017 with a clear goal: to simplify business banking and make it more accessible, efficient, and cost-effective for small business owners.
We’ve achieved this by consolidating their financial admin into one platform.
Business owners can create, send, and track invoices directly from the app, helping them get paid faster – which, in turn, can help cash flow.
Members, as we call our customers, also have the ability to categorise and manage business expenses in real-time, and digital receipt-matching means no more paper records, manual tracking or chasing payments.
The time saved, soon adds up.
It’s time and effort that entrepreneurs can reinvest into their businesses, focus more on networking, generate new revenue streams, and scale their operations.
Meanwhile, the competition has driven better service across the sector, which ultimately benefits the wider UK economy.
Empowering London’s small businesses
In 2024, we grew to over 650,000 members, representing 11% market share of the small business sector.
London is the beating heart of the UK’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. Today, 26% of our UK members are based in Greater London, making up the largest section of our member base.
These London-based businesses range from fast-growing e-commerce platforms to couriers, and solopreneurs.
Like José, founder of Mayoy, the first Venezuelan-origin bean-to-bar chocolate maker.
“We offer Venezuela-origin chocolate bars and a range of cacao products. Everything we make is deliciously guilt and nasties-free and made with love in our London choco-lab.” – José, founder of Mayoy
José used Tide’s platform to streamline the financial side of his growing business, allowing him to focus on scaling production.
Supporting growth
At Tide, we understand that growth is the ultimate goal for small businesses, and we have built a platform to support entrepreneurs at every stage of their journey.
For Simply Asoebi, a London-based luxury asoebi end-to-end service catering to African weddings, Tide has been a vital partner in scaling operations in London and beyond.
“Being in the central hub of London makes business so much easier – being close to couriers and to the airport for deliveries,” said Nwanne Maduanusi, Co-Founder of Simply Asoebi, and a Tide member since 2019.
“When we were reviewing other business bank accounts, Tide just made the most sense – I could see we were going to grow together. When Tide introduced the Payment Links feature, it was a gamechanger for us. We still operate the same way but we can now access a lot of US clients – as it just makes it so much quicker and easier for them to pay. Also, the Invoice Assistant. When you first start out, you don’t have so many clients, you can manage it. But as you grow, you can’t keep on top of it manually. So, having that auto-chaser for any late invoice payments has made a huge difference.”
Looking forward
By simplifying business administration, Tide is enabling small business owners to reclaim their time, optimise their operations, and focus on the big picture.
As London’s entrepreneurial landscape continues to expand, we will continue to evolve our platform to meet the dynamism of entrepreneurs. Whether it’s simplifying admin tasks, securing funding, or offering valuable insights into business performance, Tide is here to give small business owners the time and freedom to grow.
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