YouLend: how it works and what it costs

The lender behind many big-name platform advances. One fixed fee, repaid automatically as a slice of every sale.

Visit YouLend →

How it works

YouLend is a funder most owners have never heard of, even though plenty have seen its money. It provides revenue-based finance: a lump sum of up to £2,000,000, repaid automatically as a percentage of your sales. Most people meet it through someone else's brand. Its homepage names 23 partner brands, including Amazon, eBay, Shopify, Just Eat, Tide, Dojo, Etsy, Teya, Mollie and Epos Now, and in the UK it is the named funding partner behind Stripe Capital and Shopify Capital.

However you arrive, the process is quick. YouLend says funding can be approved in as little as 24 hours, with money landing in as little as 48 hours after approval. Revenue-based finance is assessed on sales data rather than a business plan, which is why platforms that already process your payments can serve up ready-made offers. At the time of checking, offers typically come in at about twice your monthly revenue.

The deal itself has two moving parts. First, one fixed fee. YouLend's pitch is "No interest to pay, just a fixed fee", so the total cost in pounds is known on day one. Second, the repayment method, in YouLend's words: "Every sale you make, pay a percentage back to us automatically." An agreed slice comes off each transaction until the advance plus the fee is cleared.

That sales sweep is what makes revenue-based finance different from a loan. There is no fixed monthly payment and no fixed end date. A strong month clears the balance faster. A quiet month costs less. For seasonal businesses that is the main appeal, and the main reason people accept a higher price for it.

Here is the honest maths, using made-up numbers rather than a YouLend quote. Take a £10,000 advance with a £1,200 fee. The total to repay is £11,200 whatever happens. If the sweep clears it in a year, that fee works out at roughly 12% for the year. If it clears in six months, which fast-moving sales sweeps often manage, the same money cost about double that on a yearly basis. Fixed fees look small until you notice how quickly they get repaid.

One caution on the partner point. YouLend sits behind many of the big-name platform advances, not all of them. SumUp's UK advance comes from SumUp Payments Limited, and PayPal Working Capital is PayPal's own product. Whoever the actual lender is, that is the firm you deal with if trade turns down.

What it really costs

One fixed fee, agreed up front, and that is the whole price. In YouLend's own words: "No interest to pay, just a fixed fee." There is no representative example or rate card published for us to quote at the time of checking. The fee arrives with your offer.

The honest translation is that a fixed fee costs the same however fast you repay. Three numbers reveal what a YouLend deal really costs: the fee in pounds, the percentage taken from each sale, and YouLend's estimate of how long repayment will take at your current sales. With those three in writing, the sum is simple. Fee divided by advance, scaled to how many months the money is actually in your hands.

As a rule of thumb, the faster the sweep clears the balance, the higher the yearly cost of the same fee. A fee worth 12% of the advance is modest if repayment takes a full year, and steep if it is gone in five months. Our guide to the true cost of a merchant cash advance works through the maths step by step.

Who can apply

• Typically a few months of steady sales, around three or more months of trading at the time of checking
• Roughly £1,500 or more a month in card or online sales, typically
• Card or online takings the repayment percentage can be collected from automatically
• Offers usually come in at about twice your monthly revenue

Good for

• Businesses with strong card or online sales that want repayments to flex with trade
• Seasonal firms, since quiet months automatically repay less
• Owners who need money inside a week rather than the cheapest money on the market
• Anyone already holding an advance offer inside Shopify, Stripe, Dojo or a similar partner platform

Watch out for

• The fixed fee never gets cheaper. Repay fast, as the sales sweep tends to make you do, and the yearly cost can be far higher than the headline number suggests.
• The merchant financing is not regulated by the FCA, so the protections that come with regulated credit do not apply.
• Repayments come off every sale automatically. Your busiest days lose the biggest slice, which can pinch cash flow exactly when stock needs buying.
• No published rates or representative example at the time of checking. The only way to learn your fee is to get an offer.
• Stripe, Shopify, Dojo and Teya offers can all be YouLend money. A second offer from another platform may not be a genuinely different lender.

How YouLend compares

YouLend's fixed fee buys speed and flexibility, not cheap money. A term loan from a lender like Funding Circle typically comes with a fixed monthly payment and a known end date, and a business that can pass fuller checks may pay less that way. A credit line like iwoca's typically charges only while money is drawn, so quick repayers cut their cost, which a fixed fee never allows. And if an advance offer has already appeared inside Stripe, Shopify, Dojo or Teya, that money can be YouLend's anyway, so a second offer from another partner platform may not be a genuinely different lender.

Put YouLend side by side with another lender →

Common questions

Regulation and status

YouLend's merchant financing is not regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. YouLend Limited is FCA-authorised as a payment institution, which covers its payment services rather than the financing itself.

FundSpeed has no partner or affiliate arrangement with YouLend and earns nothing if you apply. If that ever changes, we will say so here. Facts checked on 7 September 2026 against the sources below. Spotted a change? Tell us and we will fix it.

Similar options