5 best merchant cash advance lenders in the UK in 2026

A merchant cash advance gives your business access to funding without the fixed monthly repayments of a traditional business loan. Instead, you receive funding upfront and repay it as an agreed percentage of your future sales, so the amount transferred rises when sales are higher and falls when they're lower. This makes merchant cash advances particularly useful for businesses with regular card or online sales, including retailers, restaurants, hotels, leisure businesses and ecommerce companies.

That said, merchant cash advances can cost more than some traditional forms of business finance, so it's worth understanding how the funding works, how much you'll pay in total and how it will affect your cash flow before accepting an offer. In this guide, we compare five of the best merchant cash advance lenders and providers available to UK businesses right now.

Best merchant cash advance lenders and providers at a glance

Figures above are correct as of September 2026. Funding amounts, eligibility and terms will all depend on your business and the specific offer available and may be subject to change over time.

1. YouLend – Best for flexible revenue-based funding

YouLend is a UK based embedded finance provider offering revenue based business funding, including merchant cash advances, with funding of up to £2 million available. With a YouLend facility, they agree a fixed fee and payment plan upfront, then take an agreed percentage of your future sales. YouLend uses Open Banking to access payment data and generate funding offers, with decisions available in as little as 24 hours and funds landing within 48 hours of approval.

Key features

• Funding of up to £2 million

• One fixed fee rather than interest

• Payments linked to a percentage of sales

• Decisions potentially available within 24 hours

• Funds potentially available within 48 hours of approval

• Online application

• Flexible top-ups may be available to existing customers

How YouLend repayments work

YouLend is a UK based embedded finance provider, meaning its technology sits behind funding offers made through other platforms and partners, as well as through its own direct application journey. It offers revenue based business funding, including merchant cash advances of up to £2 million, and considers all types of revenue when assessing small and medium sized businesses. YouLend uses Open Banking to look directly at your payment data and generate a funding offer from it, with decisions available in as little as 24 hours and funds landing within 48 hours of approval.

What to consider

YouLend is authorised and regulated by the FCA, but as a Payment Institution rather than as a lender. That authorisation covers how it handles and safeguards the money moving through its payment systems, which is a different thing from the funding agreement itself. Its merchant cash advance product is a commercial agreement to buy a share of your future sales, not a regulated loan, so it doesn't come with the standardised protections or disclosure rules that apply to regulated consumer lending. In practice, that means it's worth reading the terms of your specific offer closely rather than assuming the same safeguards apply as they would with a regulated loan.

Best for: Businesses looking for flexible revenue-based funding and potentially larger funding amounts.

2. Liberis – Best for larger revenue-based funding

Liberis provides revenue based finance to small businesses, and prices it in a similar way to YouLend, as revenue finance rather than a traditional business loan. Funding offers are built from your business's sales data and range from £1,000 to £1 million, priced as one fixed fee with repayments taken as an agreed percentage of your sales. Once you accept an offer, funding can arrive in as little as 24 hours.

Key features

• Funding from £1,000 to £1 million

• Personalised funding offers

• One fixed fee

• Payments based on a percentage of sales

• Funding potentially available within 24 hours

• Funding based on sales data

What to consider

Even though repayments move with your sales, that doesn't mean there's no minimum payment at all. Liberis funding is subject to a monthly minimum of up to 3% of the receivables purchased, so if what you've generated through sales falls short of that in a given month, the shortfall is collected by direct debit instead. Worth keeping in mind if your revenue is seasonal or unpredictable, since you could still owe a payment in a quiet month.

Best for: Businesses looking for larger amounts of revenue-based funding with a fixed cost agreed upfront.

3. 365 Finance – Best for established businesses with card sales

365 Finance specialises in merchant cash advances and revenue based finance for UK businesses, offering funding from £10,000 to £500,000 through its merchant cash advance product. Rather than a fixed monthly repayment, an agreed percentage of your credit and debit card sales, typically between 5% and 15%, is deducted automatically from your daily transactions, and because the funding is unsecured, there's no APR or fixed term in the traditional sense. To qualify, your business needs at least six months' trading history and at least £10,000 a month in credit and debit card sales.

Key features

• Funding from £10,000 to £500,000

• Repayments linked to card sales

• Typically 5% to 15% of card sales

• Unsecured funding

• No traditional APR

• No fixed monthly repayment amount

• Funding decisions potentially available within 24 hours

• No interest rates or late fees

What to consider

Because the funding is unsecured and built around flexible, sales based payments rather than a fixed schedule, it can end up costing more overall than some traditional business finance. It's worth weighing the total amount you'd repay against other options before you commit, rather than comparing on speed or ease of approval alone.

Best for: Established UK businesses with regular debit and credit card sales.

4. Square Cash Advance – Best for existing Square sellers

Square Cash Advance is a merchant cash advance built specifically for UK businesses that already process payments through Square. Because Square already holds your payment history, it can generate a personalised funding offer based on your actual sales activity with them, rather than asking you to apply from scratch. To qualify, your business needs to have taken at least £10,000 in card payments over the previous 12 months and processed transactions through Square on at least 20 separate days.

Key features

• Available to eligible Square sellers

• Personalised funding offers

• Funding based on Square sales activity

• Sales-based payment structure

• Eligibility based primarily on business performance with Square

• No traditional application to a separate lender

What to consider

Square Cash Advance is designed for businesses already using Square. This makes it a particularly straightforward option for eligible Square sellers because Square already has access to their payment history. However, it also means it is not an option for businesses that do not use Square as their payment processor.

Best for: Eligible Square sellers looking for funding through their existing payment platform.

5. Stripe Capital – Best for existing Stripe users

Stripe Capital gives eligible Stripe users access to business financing based on their activity on the Stripe platform, and depending on the offer you receive, that financing is structured as either a business loan or a merchant cash advance. In the UK, both are provided by YouLend rather than Stripe directly. Eligibility is based on factors including your payment volume and payment history, and offers are surfaced directly through your Stripe Dashboard rather than a separate application.

Key features

• Available to selected eligible Stripe businesses

• Offers based partly on payment activity

• Can provide either a business loan or merchant cash advance

• Funding can typically arrive within one to two business days after approval

• One flat fee

• Automated sales-based payments

What to consider

Not every Stripe user will receive an offer, and businesses cannot necessarily choose whether their offer is structured as a loan or an MCA.

Best for: Ecommerce and other businesses already processing payments through Stripe.

How to choose the right merchant cash advance provider

When comparing merchant cash advance providers, look beyond the amount of funding available. The terms and repayment structure can vary significantly, so consider the following:

• Compare the total amount you'll repay. Look at the full cost in pounds, not just the headline factor rate. Merchant cash advances are not typically presented with a standardised cost measure in the same way as regulated loans, so comparing the total amount payable can give you a clearer picture of the cost. You can also read our guide to merchant cash advance rates and fees to understand how the cost is actually calculated before comparing offers.

• Check the holdback or retrieval rate. This is the percentage taken from your card sales to repay the advance. A higher rate may clear the balance faster, but it will also have a greater impact on your day-to-day cash flow.

• Ask how quickly you can access the funds. This can be particularly important if you need funding for an urgent stock purchase, unexpected expense or seasonal opportunity.

• Find out whether you can access additional funding. Some providers allow you to top up your funding before your current advance has been fully repaid. This could be useful if you expect to need further funding later in the year.

• Check whether the provider is tied to a specific payment processor. Some merchant cash advances are only available to businesses using a particular card terminal or payment platform.

• Look at customer reviews and industry standards. Recent customer feedback can give you an insight into the provider's service and funding process. You can also check whether the provider follows the British Merchant Cash Advance Association's code of practice, particularly as merchant cash advances themselves are not generally FCA-regulated.

Compare merchant cash advance offers through Capitalise

Every business is different, the right merchant cash advance provider for you depends on your trading history, your monthly card sales and how quickly you need funding. Rather than approaching lenders one at a time to find the right fit, you can compare merchant cash advance quotes from multiple lenders through our panel, with just one application matched against providers suited to your business. Use our merchant cash advance calculator to see an estimate of what you could borrow and repay before you apply, then apply for a merchant cash advance to get matched with lenders suited to your business.