Juice is a founder-focused lender platform working to close the £22billion funding gap for UK SMEs by providing non-dilutive financing tailored to the needs of digital-first businesses.
Founded in 2019, the company uses real-time data and predictive analytics to offer more responsive lending decisions, aiming to give founders greater control over how and when they access capital.
At the helm is co-founder and CEO Katherine Chan, who spoke to us about Juice’s growth, the challenges facing fintech and what it really takes to build a company that backs founders on their own terms.
Tell us more about your company and its purpose
Juice offers tailored non-dilutive financing solutions adapted to the unique needs of SMEs, providing them with the financial agility, strategic insights and support to nourish their growing business.
Juice provides an AI-driven platform that harnesses real-time datasets alongside the traditional to offer quicker application processes and overall faster access to capital through the analysis of multiple alternative datasets in its proprietary risk engine, enabling business owners to get on with running their business with the peace of mind they have a reliable, trusted funding partner by their side.
However, Juice is not just a funding solution; it is a network of founders and experts who appreciate the challenges of scaling a business. It believes that a funding partner needs to be more than just a source of capital; rather, a provider of data and insights to empower founders to make key financial decisions with confidence, armed with the knowledge of how these decisions will drive growth and impact bottom-line profitability.
What are some of your recent achievements you’d like to highlight?
It’s been a big year for us at Juice, with so many highlights. But if I were to narrow it down to three, we raised £25million in May, which is helping us scale even faster and build out what’s next. We were proud to be named one of Sifted’s 100 fastest-growing startups in the UK and Ireland, and even more excited to come in at number 28 on Deloitte’s 2024 UK Technology Fast 50, with 945 per cent growth over the period. It’s a real milestone for the team and a reflection of their hard work and dedication to our mission and the momentum we’ve been building.
How did you get into the fintech industry?
I started out in corporate banking, but grew frustrated with the systemic inefficiencies of how the institutions were deploying capital into the real economy. I wanted more autonomy and the chance to make a real impact, and that’s hard to come by in such a structured environment. That led me into the startup world, where things move faster and you’re much closer to the results of your work.
Founding Juice wasn’t part of some master plan. It came from spotting opportunities, learning as I went, and being open to taking a few risks. I saw firsthand how inefficient some parts of banking were, and it pushed me to build something better. That’s really what got me into fintech: wanting to fix things, make them smarter, and actually see the difference it makes.
What’s the best thing about working in the fintech industry?
There’s so much mutual support and collaboration in the ecosystem, and with such a deep talent pool, you get to encounter the most driven, sharpest minds and builders, all looking to solve problems through tech and innovation.
What frustrates you most about the fintech industry?
While the UK has seen significant investment in the fintech environment, recent government policy has created headwinds such as changes to the R&D tax relief scheme (and increased tax burden on business exits), which has the opposite effect on championing home-grown innovation and growth. I’m interested in seeing the direction of travel for Pisces – we need more government support to address the longstanding liquidity gap in the industry.
How have your previous roles influenced your career?
When I was working in banking, I kept seeing how hard it was for small businesses to get the funding they needed. Everything moved slowly, decisions were made with limited information, and the process just didn’t work for how most businesses actually operate. It felt like the system was built for a different time. That stuck with me.
Now, my experience has come full circle, leading the team at Juice to precisely solve that issue. I’m now working for a purpose-driven fintech that actually makes a difference for SME’s, something faster and more transparent. My time in banking showed me where the cracks were and gave me the drive to try and fix them.
What’s the best mistake you’ve ever made?
Honestly, in the early days of Juice, I made the classic mistake of trying to do everything myself. I thought asking for help meant I wasn’t cut out for it. That mindset definitely slowed things down. It took me a while to realise that getting the right people around you and people who are smarter than you in certain areas, is one of the most important things you can do.
Once I started building a proper team and leaning on others, things started to move much faster. I also found huge value in talking to people, such as mentors, peers, and anyone who had done it before. You can’t do it alone, and I definitely tried to for too long.
What has the future got in store for your company?
We will be providing even more value-added insights to its companies in future by adding an analytics dashboard to its data panel for founders to log into and draw a better understanding of their company’s finances.
Juice will be taking its predictive insights even further by providing founders with detailed profitability predictions on SKU level, leveraging marketing, sales and open banking data, accounting for seasonality and historical data to make recommendations for inventory management in addition to marketing data.
Juice will also be investing more in its Community Growth Hub to bring even more ambitious founders together to build one of the largest e-commerce hubs in the UK.
What are the next key talking points or challenges for your industry as a whole?
I think one of the biggest challenges facing fintech right now isn’t just technical, it’s more people-related. If we want to build a stronger industry, we need to get a lot better at things like childcare support, flexible working, and helping people return to work after career breaks. Also, there’s still too much bias in hiring, and we can’t fix that without being really intentional about how we bring others in and support them once they’re here.
Fintech has an opportunity to lead the way when it comes to inclusion, but only if we stop treating it like a side project. Building proper mentorship and creating real progression paths is how we will secure the future of the industry. The talent is definitely out there, but we just have to do the work to make room for it.
