Inventory financing built for product businesses
What is inventory financing?
Inventory financing is a way to pay for stock before you’ve sold it. A financing partner covers the cost of your inventory — or pays your supplier directly — and you repay once the goods have landed or sold. Unlike a bank loan, it’s tied to specific orders rather than your whole balance sheet, and it doesn’t have to mean pledging your stock as security.
It’s the difference between ordering what you can afford today and ordering what you can actually sell.
Who inventory financing works for
Treyd funds product businesses that pay suppliers before their customers pay them. In the UK we generally look for:
- 1 year+ trading history
- £200,000+ annual revenue
- You buy and sell physical goods
Brands importing finished goods
Apparel and footwear, beauty and wellbeing, food and drink, consumer electronics.
Wholesalers and distributors
Scaling across borders, often in several currencies.
DTC and omnichannel brands
Seasonal peaks and marketing-heavy cash cycles.
Manufacturers
Paying for raw materials and packaging months before revenue.
Apparel and footwear brands are our largest group, followed by consumer discretionary and beauty. We fund businesses in the UK, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland and Ireland.
What inventory financing costs with Treyd
Applying is free. Holding a Treyd limit is free. You pay one flat fee per financed invoice, and you see it before you accept anything. No interest, no arrangement fee, no exit fee, and no charge for a limit you don’t draw on.
Your fee depends on four things:
What that looks like in practice
A supplier invoice of
£50,000
Repaid in
3 months
Flat fee
Between 1.3-3% per month
Shown in the Treyd platform before you submit the payment order.
Worth checking how that compares at your own order size — against a smaller order at a higher unit price, or the margin on the units you’d otherwise not stock.
How Treyd's inventory financing works
Apply for a Treyd limit
Connect your accounting data and share your financials. We underwrite on what's happening now, not last year's accounts.
Upload your supplier invoice
Add it in the Treyd platform. Stock, raw materials, freight and marketing all qualify, and our scan saves you retyping.
We pay your supplier
We pay your supplier directly, in their currency, at the FX rate shown upfront. No money passes through your account.
You repay in 1-5 months
Pick your repayment date and see the flat fee before you confirm. Repay early and that part of your limit frees up.
The cash gap, in numbers
A stock order can look healthy on paper and still put real pressure on cash. Here's how the timing can play out.
A skincare brand places a £120,000 stock order for Q4
| Stage | Timing | Cash impact |
|---|---|---|
| Supplier deposit (30%) | Day 0 | −£36,000 |
| Production | 60 days | — |
| Sea freight | 30 days | — |
| Balance due on shipping (70%) | Day 60 | −£84,000 |
| Retailers pay on 60-day terms | Day 150 | + revenue |
Cash goes out up to 150 days before it comes back in.
With Treyd, the supplier payments are financed when they're due: £36,000 at the start and £84,000 before shipping. You repay 1-5 months later. That means the order can be sized around demand, not just the cash available today.
Illustrative example, not a customer case. Deposit split, production time, freight time and payment terms vary by supplier and category. Figures are shown in pounds sterling; equivalent examples for Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland and Ireland use local currency.
Inventory financing vs the alternatives
Most product brands aren’t choosing between Treyd and another fintech. They’re choosing between Treyd and one of these four.
| Alternative | The option | With Treyd |
|---|---|---|
| Your own cash | Using your own cash costs nothing in fees, and for small, predictable reorders it’s usually the right call. The trade-off is what else that cash could have done — and whether the order has to shrink to fit what’s in the account this month. | Treyd pays the supplier invoice instead, so the cash stays available for the rest of the business. One flat fee, repaid in 1–5 months. |
| A bank loan or credit line | Banks suit larger, established businesses and long-term assets like equipment or premises — and for those a bank may well be cheaper. Approval usually needs security, sometimes a personal guarantee, and decisions typically take weeks to months. | Treyd is built around order timing rather than long-term borrowing. We don’t take your stock as security, and a decision takes 24 hours. |
| Longer supplier terms | If you can negotiate 60 or 90 days from your supplier, it costs nothing and it’s hard to beat. It depends entirely on your leverage, and suppliers who are stretched themselves tend to say no. | Your supplier is paid in full, on time, in their currency. You take the time instead of asking them to. Some times suppliers are even willing to negotiate a cash discount in exchange for upfront payment. |
| Invoice financing or factoring | If your cash is tied up in unpaid customer invoices rather than upcoming supplier payments, receivables financing is the right shape. Whole-ledger facilities can mean handing over collections and notifying your customers. | Treyd does this too, and selectively — you choose which invoices. It’s the same limit, used the other way round. Read more about our invoice finacing solution here. |
Where something else fits better
If that’s your situation, we’ll say so on the first call.
Why product brands pick Treyd
Your stock isn't pledged
We don't take your inventory as security, so it stays on your balance sheet and under your control.
Bigger orders, better unit economics
Fewer, larger orders usually mean a lower price per unit and less spent on shipping.
A limit that moves with you
We re-underwrite on live accounting data, so a good quarter shows up in your limit rather than in next year's application.
One flat fee, shown first
No interest, and nothing that only becomes clear after you've signed.
A named account manager
One person who knows your business, rather than a ticket queue.
One limit, both directions
Pay suppliers upfront, or advance against your customer invoices. Repay, reuse, repeat.
Proud growth partner to 1500+ companies
Inventory financing FAQs
Could Treyd be something for you?
Have any questions, or want to explore the possibilities for your business? Send us some information and we'll get back to you.