< p>SME lenders ezbob and iwoca have teamed up with Alibaba.com as it aims to help UK SMEs access international trade financing.

The partnership will see the introduction of a new product, the e-Credit Line from Alibaba.com, which will help SME’s overcome a major hurdle funding caused by financing upfront payments to suppliers.

This means that when a UK buyer wants to finance inventory and purchase from a Chinese supplier on Alibaba.com, they can apply for a line of credit to make multiple drawdowns to finance purchases.

The European Marketing and Business Development Director of Alibaba.com, Wei Duan, said the lender is fully aware that small businesses need fast access to trade finance in order to compete and succeed.

“We want to make financing as easy as possible for the millions of British companies that do business through Alibaba.com.

 Working with the leaders in this field, ezbob and iwoca, offers each of our customers an advanced and integrated trade finance service package,” said Wei.

The Ezbob e-credit line offer will offer companies in the UK between £50,000 and £120,000 for up to 15 months and businesses will be able to apply finance in just five minutes.

“We predict that this will help fuel a significant increase in UK trade volume on the Alibaba.com platform,” said COO of ezbob, Russell Gould.

“As the UK’s largest business e-lender we welcome the opportunity to help small businesses to negotiate with suppliers from a position of strength with readily available funds.”

Iwoca’s line, meanwhile, will offer businesses financing of up to £50,000 for up to six months and again it will only take five minutes to apply.

“Small business have been failed by the banks due to lack of available financing. This has held back UK economic growth,” says Christoph Rieche, CEO of iwoca.

“This deal gives small businesses the muscle they need to quickly finance deals and trade in the global market.

“The partnership with Alibaba.com highlights the dramatic growth in alternative forms of lending and the economic shift away from established bank lenders. We expect to finance over £100m worth of deals over the next 12 months.”