NatWest has issued its second Intellectual Property-backed (IP) loan to SMS marketing company SixFive Networks.

SixFive Networks, which offers a global cloud-based SMS gateway platform, has received a £1 million loan from the bank using only its IP as collateral.

The move comes after the bank supplied its first-ever IP-backed loan to software company Sci-Net in April.

NatWest first announced plans to introduce lending for high growth businesses based on the value of their IP in January.

The bank said that while these companies often own few tangible assets, they can be rich in IP and intangible assets.

These companies can find it difficult to use their assets as collateral to secure growth funding, particularly when compared with firms holding more conventional assets.

SixFive’s chief financial officer, Haider Mawji, said that while the nine-year-old company would have continued to grow without the NatWest loan, if it had had to rely on its resources, it would have meant scaling less quickly.

"In the past, high-growth, scalable businesses which are almost always IP-rich but light on tangible assets have typically found debt financing challenging to access, leaving them with two options: grow organically, or dilute equity," said Neil Bellamy, head of technology, media and telecoms at NatWest Group. "With this new loan, borrowing is becoming a realistic option for businesses offering products and services that are backed by good IP.”

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