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about acorn.finance

Formed in 1997 our mission is that every business owner, property investor or homeowner gets the right funding solution.

To achieve this we have access to a lending panel of over 400 funders, almost every lender in the market.

You want to move your business or investment forward, we enable that by arranging the right funding!

Why did we form Acorn Commercial Finance?

Back in 1997 father and son team Tom and Paul Thompson identified a funding gap in the market.

Small business owners and property investors were unable to get the funding they needed by accessing the high street banks. The alternative funders were too hard for them to find, being busy running their businesses.

The big banks (NatWest, Barclays, HSBC, Bank of Scotland and Royal Bank of Scotland) dominated the funding market. Most business owners did not know about the wider market.

For business owners, this wasn’t great as bank managers would only suggest what they, not another bank could offer. That meant business owners were not getting the “best advice”, just some advice.

That would have been fine if all banks operated the same, but they didn’t then and they still don’t.

In the ’90s many of us had loyalty to our banks. We were still with the banks we’d been brought up with. Then we set up businesses or started investing in property, if that wasn’t “the bank’s” target sector, then too bad.

We were working with lots of business owners and soon realised that it was them getting the short straw. The banks were offering poor deals, taking extra security they didn’t need or just turning good businesses down.

So – Acorn.finance (or Acorn Commercial Finance in those days) was born.

We worked with the businesses getting the worst deal from their banks. Businesses like pubs, hotels, post offices, bakeries, fish and chip shops, care homes and garages. We didn’t work with them because it was easy, we looked for the business sectors getting the toughest breaks. In that way we built a strong reputation amongst business owners.

Acorn.finance – About an award winning finance broker.

In 2013 we entered our first awards – the Business Moneyfacts Awards. That year we walked away with the Commercial Mortgage Broker of the Year Award. (See below, me meeting Matt Dawson MBE – England Rugby Player!). Since then we’ve won a further 6 best UK broker awards from a variety of publications.

Tom retired back in 2016 leaving Paul at the helm. We’re now growing the business again through franchises across the length and breadth of the UK.

To find out more about the Acorn.finance franchise, then contact us now, we’re looking for a limited number of committed individuals to get started before the end of the year.

Paul Thompson – Acorn.finance founder

Paul came into the finance world from an unusual direction. He previously served as a Sea King Helicopter pilot in the Royal Navy.

Not being the typical ex-banker turned finance broker has been a strength for Paul. The analytical thinking required as a pilot is invaluable when dealing with funding transactions.

Paul spent 5 years on the board of directors for the National Association of Commercial Finance Brokers, helping to steer the industry in a positive direction and being responsible for Training and Education for the association.

Now the kids have left home Paul lives by the coast in the North East with his wife Kate and their two puppies Bimba & Lola. They love walks by the sea (and dips in it!).