In this episode of the Business Finance Bulletin a look back at 2015 in the alternative finance and crowdfunding market. The latest annual report from NESTA, Pushing Boundaries, provides an insight into how crowdfunding continued to grow in 2015.

If you are looking for an asset finance facility to fund your growth plans there’s news of a funding boost for the alternative lender LDF provided by the British Business Bank.

Xero, the cloud accounting software service, asked business owners what they thought the key ingredient for a successful business is. The entrepreneurs also shared their top three business pain-points. Do you suffer from any (or all) of these three barriers to growth?

And in the Business Finance Tip of the Week when to comes to raising business finance, what influence do past business successes or failures have?

If you would prefer to listen to the podcast version you can click below or download to listen to later via our Soundcloud, Stitcher or itunes channel.

In the latest episode of the Business Finance Bulletin Rob Warlow looks at a new product launched by Market Invoice, the online invoice discounting provider. The new product called Contract Finance will help businesses release previously locked-up cash from contracts delivering regular income.

According to a survey from Bibby Financial Services business confidence amongst SMEs has taken a dent and bucked the recent trend of a rise in more confident businesses. Why is this?

Rob reveals the sources of finance business owners are turning to as featured in a survey carried out by Santander Corporate and Commercial Banking. Which source is proving surprisingly popular?

In the crowdfunding world, the latest lending figures from the P2P Finance Association show that its members are reaching new highs in their support of growing businesses. Rob looks at how SMEs are benefiting.

And in the Business Finance Tip of the Week, Rob shares a calculation you can make from your Balance Sheet and Profit and Loss Accounts which can help pinpoint a problem in your stock control.

If you prefer to listen to the podcast version you listen in below or download it via our Soundcloud or itunes channel.

In the latest Business Finance Bulletin Rob Warlow reviews findings by the Insolvency trade body R3 on how zombie businesses may be facing challenges ahead as the economy grows.

New lenders keep appear on the finance scene and Rob shares the news of a new commercial lender, Secure Trust Bank, which is providing asset-based financial support to growing SMEs.

Funding Empire is one the growing band of crowdlenders and Rob has a chat with Parag Patel, owner and founder on what Funding Empire can do to help business owners access finance.

A clean credit report is important when raising finance and in this edition Rob looks at a recent survey by Experian, the credit reference agency, which reveals that many business owners have little knowledge about the make-up of a good or bad credit profile.

In the Business Finance Tip of the Week Rob shares a clip from a recent Business Wales ‘Access to Finance Workshop’ in which he talks about the type of proposals banks like to see.

You can also listen to this week’s episode as a podcast by clicking below or downloading it to your phone via Soundcloud so you can listen at your leisure.