As Australia emerges from the COVID-19 crisis, some of our best economic minds are betting on a business-led recovery – and B2B lender ORB Alternative is racing ahead of the rest to meet the funding needs of Australian businesses looking to seize the opportunities of the post-Covid world.

“It’s been a very difficult time not only for companies in Australia but globally. A lot of strategic initiatives have been shelved, a lot of the growth opportunities have been shelved,” ORB chief executive Simon Woodfull told ifa.

“But as we’re coming out of hibernation now – and touch wood, we’re not going back into lockdown – there’s pent-up demand from organizations looking for funds to implement strategies that they may have agreed at board level twelve to eighteen months ago.”

Mr Woodfull co-founded packaging developer Bravura and is chairman of wholesale digital marketing firm Globital. ORB – which launched in late 2019. – is aimed at ASX-listed and unlisted companies looking for funding, and Mr Woodfull hopes ORB's streamlined application process will win favor with the brokers and advisers who represent them.

"Obviously we're talking to the brokers, the financial advisors, who are at the forefront of this increase. We work with them and provide a funding platform that allows them to fulfill their clients' needs – fully automated and with a quick turnaround,” said Mr Woodfull.

This creates "bundled" economic benefits and helps the end customer overcome one of the biggest challenges in achieving their business strategies and goals: accessing funds in a timely manner and without jumping through the hoops that come with borrowing from the Big Four .

“Banks are certainly becoming more risk-averse after the pandemic. Their credit criteria are becoming much stricter. It is quite clear – and the statistics will show – that the demand for non-bank lending platforms will start to grow,” said Mr Woodfull.

Allowing online applications to manage seamless and painless lending processes means people don't have to deal with the huge amounts of paperwork, costs and frustration that banks are notorious for."

ORB has four products on the market, with three aimed at ASX-listed companies that require capital for acquisition or growth in development. The fourth product – ORB Delta – is aimed at unlisted companies seeking funds, and ORB can use its funding panel to provide funding between $250,000 and $150 million.

“There is an absolute need and an absolute appetite for growth and we know the ASX-listed community is for growth. It's a new world we live in and people are looking for any process and any digital application that can streamline and make their lives easier and allow them more time to actually serve their end customer efficiently and effectively." said Mr. Woodfull.

While ORB is "very engaged" in the Australian space at the moment and is encouraged by the deal flow it is seeing, Mr Woodfull still hopes to see it take on the world and already sees some opportunities emerging in South East Asia.

"In the model we have today, there's no reason why we can't implement this in other listed jurisdictions - whether it's Hong Kong, Singapore, the UK or the US and so on. The model is very scalable, but right now we are focused on keeping our network of industry professionals stable and reliable. We are here for the long haul.”