Cardiff-based Final Rentals has become the first business in Wales to borrow against its intellectual property through NatWest, taking a six-figure loan rather than opening a fourth equity round, after lifting bookings by 200% this year.
Final Rentals was founded in Cardiff in 2019 and has grown into a car rental franchise and technology platform operating across more than 65 countries. Its pitch is to independent rental operators: booking infrastructure, a technology platform and access to international customers that allow smaller firms to compete with the global chains.
The company had reached the point where a fourth funding round was the obvious next step. It took debt instead. NatWest's IP-backed lending proposition allows eligible high-growth companies to borrow against the assessed value of their intellectual property, with the specialist valuation firm Inngot assessing and valuing the qualifying assets. Final Rentals is the first Welsh business to complete such a facility with the bank.
The loan is a six-figure sum. Neither the exact quantum, the pricing nor the valuation Inngot placed on the company's IP has been disclosed, and no equity was issued in connection with the facility.
Founder and chief executive Ammar Akhtar framed the choice in cap-table terms, saying that going into a fourth funding round debt was the wiser option and that the structure let the company unlock value from assets it had already built without surrendering part of the business. He described the proposition as a "no-brainer".
The underlying trading supports the lending case. Bookings are up 200% this year and the company has expanded into three new territories over the same period. Akhtar was named Fintech Leader of the Year at the 2026 Wales Fintech Awards, and first came across the bank's IP lending route after joining the NatWest Accelerator in Cardiff in 2022.
Proceeds are earmarked for further investment in artificial intelligence, GPUs, technology and intellectual property as the company pushes into additional international markets — spending that, on the company's logic, generates more IP and therefore more borrowing capacity against the same asset base.
For Welsh technology companies the structure matters more than the headline number. Equity remains the default route for scaling software businesses outside London, where local investor pools are thinner and rounds are often priced accordingly. A facility secured on intangible assets offers an alternative for founders with defensible technology but limited appetite for dilution, and Final Rentals is now the reference deal in the market.
NatWest did not disclose how many Welsh businesses it expects to qualify for the proposition, and Final Rentals has not published revenue figures or headcount.
Original source: Business News Wales — https://businessnewswales.com/cardiff-fintech-becomes-first-welsh-business-to-secure-natwest-ip-backed-loan/
