Ethereum-based invoice financing platform Populous World (PPT) has revealed its plans for 2019.

In their year-end community message, the team have outlined a roadmap of future activities that includes further integrations with its XBRL platform and two tranches of feature updates.

Platform upgrades for 2019

Key activities for the end of Q1 2019 include updates for the XBRL credit rating platform – used to vet possible invoice sellers.

The Populous World team are looking to include direct platform integration with an Altman Z score and the ability for users to commission credit reports (that will be payable with the airdropped PXT token).

Users can now also switch between the project’s main invoice discounting platform (PIP) and PXP, and can explore invoice sellers’ financial accounts – enabling risk analysis for invoice buyers.

Other platform features we expect to see will be additional invoice seller features, including partial funding of invoices and the ability to convert the platform’s native stablecoin (GBPP) into other supported stablecoins. Other stablecoins that will be supported include True USD and the Circle-backed stablecoin USDC.

They are also hoping to scale up platform volume by the end of the year, as they will finally be working on client bulk invoice uploading and, in an interesting incentive for invoice sellers, the ability to request a partial advance on invoices (between 80% and 95%).

Invoice financing

Invoice financing is reported to be a $3 trillion a year global market, and it helps businesses with cash flow by allowing them to sell invoices immediately after they have been raised (instead of waiting for the 30, 60, or even 90-day payment terms requested by debtors).

Populous World aims to help companies sell invoices for typically 95% of their value for an invoice with 30-day payment terms. This extra 5% of value can be gained by passive investors who need to wait until the payments come through before realising their gains.

Helping SMEs through Brexit

Alex Oritogun, head of business development at Populous World, recently shared some thoughts on the future of invoice financing for the platform’s primary market of SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises).

He stated: “As it stands today, more and more SMEs are aware of invoice finance. Statistics from UK Finance show that the industry is growing fast. In 2017, significant growth in funding has occurred amongst medium-sized and larger clients (those with annual turnovers of £10 million to £100 million).”

For the UK market, Alex also seems confident that “there will be a greater demand for invoice financing post-Brexit,” as he thought a lack of incumbents would be available to provide funding for SMEs.