UrbanChain achieves 10X growth with Aria's flexible financing solutions
UrbanChain faced a scaling dilemma: rapid 10x growth meant bigger customers demanding longer payment terms, but their vendors needed quick payments to keep operations running. This Manchester-based renewable energy platform turned to Aria’s flexible financing solution to bridge the gap, unlocking £11M in funding and reducing vendor payment times to just 15 hours while supporting their explosive growth from £2.4M to £25M in revenue.
Introduction
UrbanChain, a pioneering UK-based energy tech company, is transforming the renewable energy landscape by creating local energy markets that connect renewable generators directly with consumers. By bypassing traditional wholesale intermediaries, UrbanChain’s platform delivers greater price stability, enhanced transparency, and broader access to clean and affordable energy. Since partnering with Aria in February 2024, the company has seen exponential growth—scaling its revenue from £2.4 million in FY23 to £25 million in FY24.
Challenge
The challenge for UrbanChain was twofold: managing cash flow during rapid expansion and providing flexible financing for their diverse vendor portfolio.
As a company focused on creating local energy markets to connect buyers and sellers of renewable energy, UrbanChain works with numerous vendors who have varying size and credit profiles. Their traditional financing options couldn’t support the ambitious growth plans or provide the line-by-line financing flexibility they needed for different vendors. On the buyer side, UrbanChain also started to work with bigger and bigger customers that were more complicated to underwrite and needed longer payment terms.
UrbanChain was facing a tough choice: putting a strain on their own cash to finance longer payment terms or turning down these new promising customers.
For a rapidly scaling company processing hundreds of invoices at once, manual financing approaches were becoming untenable. As Mo Hajhashem, their Chief Commercial Officer explains: “Last year we had 10X growth, which we moved from nearly 2.4 million to 25 million. We wouldn’t be able to do that if we didn’t have the right financial backing.”
The Aria Solution
UrbanChain chose Aria for its flexible financing approach and technological capabilities. With a complex tech stack and an ambitious roadmap, UrbanChain wanted a solution that could be integrated easily. Through Aria’s API integration, UrbanChain implemented an automated financing solution that accommodates their specific needs:
- Line-by-line financing for vendors with different credit ratings
- API integration and automation that matches UrbanChain’s tech-driven approach
- Personalized problem-solving with direct team support
Somayeh Taheri, Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of UrbanChain, highlights the impact: “Using Aria has been helping us with the customers because it’s a positive impact for us on our cash flow.”
Outcomes
The partnership with Aria has delivered significant results for UrbanChain:
- Supported 10X annual growth from £2.4 million to £25 million
- Enabled higher credit limits for bigger clients, expanding business opportunities
- Streamlined invoice processing for large accounts (200-300 invoices at once)
- Improved cash flow management during rapid expansion
- Built foundation for “limitless growth” with flexible financing structures
Chrisana Neves from Accounts Payable emphasizes the operational efficiency: “We have big accounts where we can edit up to 300 invoices. With Aria’s help we can finance them all at once.”
What sets the partnership apart is Aria’s collaborative approach to problem-solving. As M. Hajhashem explains: “Aria comes to us, they send their team to us, and they try to find a solution for us. That is really important because most of the other financiers, you go to them, they say ‘computer says no’ but that was not the case here.” Indeed, Aria has been a steadfast partner for UrbanChain throughout the project, providing dedicated support from an implementation manager and regular check-ins with a Key Account Manager. These proactive check-ins not only tackle any operational challenges that may arise but also uncover innovative ways to empower UrbanChain as they embark on their next stages of growth.
For UrbanChain, a company focused on creating innovative energy solutions through technology, finding a financial partner that matches their forward-thinking approach has been crucial to their success.
Looking Forward
With Aria’s support, UrbanChain is positioned for continued expansion, focusing on their mission to transform the renewable energy market. The financial infrastructure provided by Aria will be central to UrbanChain’s plans for “limitless growth” in the emerging green energy sector.
