We take the pain out of payments
We build a bridge between a business and its customers by taking away the burden of waiting for payment.
Nicola is a fintech expert with a distinguished career in lending and invoice finance, which began at GE Capital in 2006. After more than a decade in the sector, she moved into fintech start-ups, driven by a passion for working in solutions-focused, agile environments where she could challenge the norm and “ask the questions no one else would.”
Her deep conviction that the right digital product could transform invoice finance for small businesses inspired her to develop a best-in-class digital solution, designed to help small businesses grow and succeed on their own terms.
A proud Mancunian and mum of three, Nicola is a keen cook and a vocal advocate for increasing the representation of women in technology. She is equally dedicated to championing entrepreneurs and supporting the thriving tech community in Greater Manchester. At weekends, she can be found cheering her kids on from the sidelines of football, rugby, and cricket matches.
With a wealth of experience in invoice finance, Nicola began her career at Five Arrows Commercial Finance and then GE Capital and has been an integral part of the Hydr team since its inception. As the go-to expert for all things operational, she is the first point of contact for our customers, ensuring smooth and efficient service.
Outside of work, Nicola is a devoted mum of two, often found cheering from the sidelines of football and rugby pitches. A passionate theatre-goer, she also enjoys long walks with her dog, Stan. Never one to let a weekend go to waste, she treasures time spent with friends—often with a well-deserved glass of wine in hand.
Claire is a collections expert with over a decade of experience working with lenders to ensure the smooth and efficient collection of invoices. Known for her kind nature and exceptional expertise, Claire brings a personal and professional touch to everything she does.
As the head of Hydr’s collections team, she plays a pivotal role in delivering outstanding service to our clients.
A mum to two teenage daughters, Claire has a deep love for music and enjoys spending her time immersed in it whenever she can. Her dedication to both her family and her profession makes her an invaluable part of our team.
Racie heads up our Social Media team, combining creativity and strategic thinking to deliver engaging content and impactful campaigns. Born in Ghana, Racie has a passion for travel and experiencing new cultures, which has greatly shaped her worldview and approach to connecting with diverse audiences.
With a BSc in Business Administration and an MSc in International Marketing Management from Manchester Metropolitan University, Racie brings a strong academic foundation and an international perspective to her role.
Driven by curiosity and a global mindset, Racie is always eager to embrace new opportunities, build meaningful connections, and make lasting contributions through her work.
Why did we create Hydr?
Powered by passion
It’s simple really: we passionately believe that companies shouldn’t have to wait so long to get paid for their invoices, particularly those small businesses who are vulnerable to dips in cashflow. So, we decided to build a bridge between a business and its customers, removing that burden of waiting for payment.
Making the complex simple
Invoice finance is one of the best ways to inject cash into a company, by taking those issued but as yet unpaid invoices off your balance sheet and into your bank account. However, like many great ideas, over time it has become ever more complicated, hard to understand and opaque.
So, what did we do? At the height of COVID we saw there was a gap in the market to serve the founders and managers of small businesses in a way that could be digital first, straightforward, transparent and, above all fair.
From the ground up
We got our heads together to strip invoice finance back to basics and come up with a proposition we call Selective Debtor Finance: we give you the ability to choose which debtors on your ledger you would like funded and that is all we do, no more, no less. And when we do, we fund 100% of the value of those invoices for fees that are fixed and fairly priced.
Next came the fun part: building the award-winning technology that powers our proposition! Signing up takes around 30 minutes, funding decisions are given in real time and payments are made in as little as 24 hours. Managing your account on our platform is completely digital: we have been told that our integration with our cloud accounting partners is the deepest they have seen so far.
Our values guide our actions, behaviours and decisions
Inclusive and respectful interaction is at the heart of every great business.
- We champion great businesses
- We level the playing field
- We creat more productive relationships
- A human service
Being ‘good enough’ is simply unacceptable.
- We champion great businesses
- We level the playing field
- We creat more productive relationships
- A human service
Accepting the status quo is not in our nature.
- We champion great businesses
- We level the playing field
- We creat more productive relationships
- A human service
We are nothing without the trust of our customer.
- We champion great businesses
- We level the playing field
- We creat more productive relationships
- A human service
Inclusive and respectful interaction is at the heart of every great business.
- We champion great businesses
- We level the playing field
- We creat more productive relationships
- A human service
Being ‘good enough’ is simply unacceptable.
- We champion great businesses
- We level the playing field
- We creat more productive relationships
- A human service
We take pride in what our customers think
Hydr have been instrumental in keeping our cash flow healthy. Their straightforward proposition, easy to use platform, and responsive team are a winning combination!
Hydr’s digital platform is fantastic, the automatic account reconciliation feature saves us hours every month. Their team are great, communications are prompt and helpful, and any issues I’ve had have always been dealt with appropriately with mine and my customers best interests front of mind.
Partnering with Hydr has been game-changing, both in helping us manage our cash flow and in reducing our time spent on chasing payments. The fees are clear, the platform is easy to use, and every member of the team has been a pleasure to work with. We’d highly recommend working with Hydr.
I really couldn’t recommend Hydr enough. Previously I was spending hours every week chasing late payments, but now Hydr takes care of It all so I can focus on growing my business and doing a great job for my customers. I just love the simplicity of the product – 100% of my invoice minus one fixed fee, in my bank in around 24 hours. The platform is also really intuitive and straight forwards.
I started using Hydr because I needed a fast and reliable source of cash flow, and I have not been disappointed. Sign up was a breeze and the platform is incredibly easy to use which saves me and my team valuable time. I have to give it to the team too, they really do a great job at managing credit control and maintaining great customer relations.
As a technology driven business, I love the platform that Hydr has created – it’s intuitive and very user friendly. However, with people at the heart of our proposition, I think the customer service provided by Hydr is outstanding: they always pick up the phone, they are quick to respond to questions. It’s the best of both worlds!
Hydr in one word – brilliant! The service has proved to be a real life saver, helping me to keep my cashflow in a good place even during those busier times like Christmas. The platform is so easy to use and the team can’t ever do enough for you.
Having selective invoice finance available through a great partner like Hydr allows us work on projects that would previously have been detrimental to cashflow, especially when we’re working on capital intensive projects that often come with long payment terms.
Our customers have given us great feedback about dealing directly with Hydr. In fact one is so impressed that we are proactively optimising our working capital that they now consider us to be more robust and resilient as a supplier, and we are winning more work from them!
If you are looking for a convenient way to improve your cash flow I can’t think of a more convenient service than Hydr. Having tried more traditional invoice factoring, Hydr provides a less onerous alternative with an easy to use interface, simple set up and minimal bureaucracy, all backed up with friendly customer service. Hydr also effectively outsources your debtor collection making it the go to solution for SME finance requirements.
Having the Hydr team manage this for me has been a game-changer. I can now spend my time on my jobs and growing the business, which is what I have always wanted to do. There’s no going back – Hydr is here to stay.
The fact that Hydr also works with our clients to manage payment has saved us a great deal of time, with no change in our relationship with them. In fact, they really like the Hydr team and some are even paying a little sooner. It’s a fantastic product to use, our team and our customers love working with the guys at Hydr.
I can’t thank Hydr enough – we raise our invoices and within 24 hours we get our payments, which enable us to build our business. For any company, no matter how big or small, if people are taking longer to pay I would highly recommend Hydr.
Hydr is like having a safety net, knowing that you have cash coming in quickly when some invoices can take up to 60 days to clear. Having Hydr in my corner means that I know when I raise the next invoice, I will be paid quickly and will be able to afford the ingredients for the next batch of orders.
I can’t thank Hydr enough – we raise our invoices and within 24 hours we get our payments, which enable us to build our business. For any company, no matter how big or small, if people are taking longer to pay I would highly recommend Hydr.
What would you do if your payment terms were tomorrow?