Liberis vs Cubefunder Revenue-Based Finance Comparison Guide

Liberis offers embedded revenue based funding products such as Working Capital and Starter Capital that advance cash to businesses in exchange for a share of future card takings, rather than a traditional fixed term loan, as outlined on Liberis' funding explainer and its UK product pages like Working Capital and Starter Capital. Cubefunder, the trading name of Tallaght Financial Ltd, provides short term business finance with repayments that are tailored to cash flow, positioned on its homepage and explained further on the How it works and FAQ pages. This comparison focuses specifically on Liberis and Cubefunder’s revenue linked funding models, looking at products, costs, eligibility, speed and service based on their official documentation and independent reviews like Finder’s Cubefunder guide and Funding Agent’s own reviews of Liberis and Cubefunder. It is written for UK SMEs weighing flexible revenue based finance against more conventional short term loans, and aims to highlight where each lender is stronger or more suitable rather than recommending one outright.

Products and terms at a glance

Both Liberis and Cubefunder provide business funding based on a company’s revenue rather than traditional secured term loans, but they structure this in different ways.

Liberis

Liberis positions its core product as a Business Cash Advance or Revenue Based Finance, where funds are advanced in exchange for a fixed amount of future revenue taken as a percentage of card or payment processor takings, as described on Liberis' explore funding page. Liberis emphasises that its Business Cash Advance is a form of receivables finance, not a loan, on its Working Capital product page, and similarly for Pay with Liberis and Starter Capital. Funding amounts are described in product ranges, for example Working Capital states funding from £1,000 to £500,000 based on business revenue and Starter Capital from £500 to £50,000 based on self declared revenue on the relevant product pages cited above.

Key structural features from Liberis’ own documentation include that there is no fixed term, because the advance is repaid through a share of daily revenue until the pre agreed total amount is collected, so repayments naturally slow down when sales dip and speed up when sales are strong, as set out on Pay with Liberis and the general explanation on Explore Funding. Liberis also notes in multiple places that there are no interest charges in the conventional sense; instead, the customer agrees to repay a pre determined total amount that includes the original advance plus a fixed fee, which is discussed conceptually on its product pages, although the precise fee or factor rate is not publicly disclosed and therefore varies.

Liberis operates as an embedded finance provider working through partners such as payment processors and platforms, which means many customers see pre approved or personalised offers inside partner portals, as described on About Us and in Liberis’ embedded finance articles such as its impact report and embedded finance features. The legal entity Liberis Limited is registered in England and Wales according to Companies House records on Companies House, while the Liberis group notes on its UK legal page that it is not authorised or regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority for lending activities and that its products are structured as purchases of receivables rather than regulated credit, a position confirmed on Liberis’ legal page and the UK specific footer of its main site.

Cubefunder Revenue Based Finance

Cubefunder markets itself as a direct business lender providing short term business finance between £5,000 and £100,000 with repayments tailored to business cash flow, as stated on the Cubefunder homepage. Although Cubefunder uses the language of business loans rather than merchant cash advances, third party guidance such as Finder’s Cubefunder review and Swoop’s Cubefunder lender review describe its facility as a short term loan where repayments are based on a fixed fee and can be adjusted or linked to the business’s revenue patterns, which aligns with the revenue based finance label used by some intermediaries. Cubefunder itself states on How it works that it uses technology plus human underwriting to offer customised repayment structures, and that payments are typically collected daily or weekly via direct debit based on expected cash flow.

Cubefunder trading and regulatory information is set out on its How it works and My Business Finance pages, which explain that Cubefunder is a trading name of Tallaght Financial Ltd, registered in England and Wales with company number 09261403, and that Tallaght Financial Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority with firm reference number 786297. The Terms and Conditions and Complaints pages provide additional information on contractual and complaints processes.

On products and basic structure, therefore, Liberis sits closer to a classic merchant cash advance model where payments are a fixed percentage of card takings, while Cubefunder offers short term business loans with a fixed total repayable that may be flexed around revenue but is usually scheduled as regular direct debit instalments.

Costs and repayments in practice

Neither Liberis nor Cubefunder publishes a full rate card or APR table for their revenue based products, so costs vary and must be inferred from how each lender describes its pricing structure.

Liberis pricing and repayments

Liberis explains that it charges a fixed fee agreed upfront and that there are no additional interest or hidden charges, with the customer repaying the advance plus this fee via a pre agreed share of daily card or processor revenue until the total amount owed is collected, as set out on Explore Funding and echoed on product pages like Working Capital. The absence of a fixed term means the effective duration depends on how quickly card sales occur: faster sales lead to faster repayment and a higher implicit annualised cost, while slower sales extend the term and reduce the annualised rate, although the total cash cost in pounds does not change.

Liberis also notes on Pay with Liberis that repayments flex with turnover and that there is no early repayment penalty, so if a business’s sales are strong and it wishes to clear the remaining balance in a lump sum, there is usually no extra fee beyond the fixed amount originally agreed. Help and feedback mechanisms, including how concerns are handled, are covered on Liberis' customer feedback and complaints page, which emphasises internal review of complaints but states that the Financial Ombudsman Service cannot settle disputes, consistent with Liberis’ non regulated status in the UK noted on its legal page.

Cubefunder pricing and repayments

Cubefunder states on its FAQ that its loans are priced individually and that it charges one fixed fee rather than interest, with repayments structured over a minimum term of three months and a maximum of twelve months for new applicants. The same FAQ explains that repayments can be daily or weekly and that Cubefunder may be able to adjust the schedule temporarily if a business experiences cash flow challenges, indicating a degree of flexibility aligned with revenue based finance, but within an overall fixed term loan framework.

While Cubefunder does not publish a public rate table, independent sources such as Finder’s Cubefunder review and Funding Scoop’s overview of ecommerce lenders indicate that typical APRs for Cubefunder loans can be relatively high compared with bank lending, with Funding Scoop providing example APR ranges for illustrative comparison. Since these figures may change over time, and Cubefunder itself does not confirm a standard APR range on its own site, the precise cost of funds should be treated as varies, to be confirmed by a personalised quote. Customer reviews on Trustpilot and Smart Money People frequently describe Cubefunder as more expensive than bank finance but appreciate the transparency of a single fixed fee and the ability to align repayments with income.

Illustrative cost comparison

The table below provides a simplified, illustrative comparison of how the two pricing structures might feel in practice for a hypothetical £20,000 funding need. These figures are not quotes and are for explanation only; real pricing varies.

Worked example 1, POS driven retailer using Liberis

Assumptions for illustration only, actual pricing varies:

• Retail business with average monthly card takings of £50,000
• Receives a £25,000 Liberis Working Capital advance
• Agrees to repay a total of £32,500 via 10 percent of card takings, all figures purely illustrative

If sales stay at £50,000 per month, 10 percent means £5,000 per month goes to Liberis. At that rate, the business would remit roughly £32,500 in about 6.5 months. If sales jump to £70,000 per month, monthly remittances rise to £7,000 and the balance would clear in just under 5 months. Conversely, if sales fall to £30,000 per month, only £3,000 is remitted monthly and the advance would take around 10 to 11 months to clear. The key point based on Liberis' model is that the percentage of sales is constant but the duration flexes with revenue.

Worked example 2, service business using Cubefunder

Assumptions for illustration only, real pricing varies:

• Service company with regular banked revenue of £40,000 per month
• Takes a £25,000 Cubefunder loan with a total repayable of £32,500 over 10 months, figures indicative only
• Repayments structured as weekly direct debit

The total repayable of £32,500 over roughly 43 weeks would result in weekly instalments of around £755. If in a particular month revenue dips to £25,000, the fixed weekly payments still total around £3,020, eating into cash flow more heavily unless Cubefunder agrees to restructure, something it suggests may be possible case by case on its FAQ. If revenue strengthens to £60,000 per month, the fixed weekly payments become more manageable relative to income, but they do not accelerate automatically as with a pure revenue share model.

These examples underline that Liberis provides automatic flexibility at the cost of an uncertain term, while Cubefunder provides term certainty but requires active negotiation if payments become temporarily unaffordable.

Speed and service

Liberis positions its embedded platform as providing funding in minutes from quote to cash in some partner journeys, highlighting automated decisioning and rapid access to funds in its article on funding at the speed of business on Liberis’ speed of funding article. However, exact approval times and payout speeds are not standardised across all partners and channels, so in practice processing speed varies and will be influenced by the data available through the partner integration and the specific underwriting rules.

Customer sentiment for Liberis on Trustpilot generally highlights quick and straightforward processes and rapid access to money, with the company holding an overall high rating at the time of writing according to Trustpilot’s Liberis page, though experiences do differ between reviewers. Funding Agent’s own Liberis review summarises this as fast, data driven funding well suited to card taking SMEs who prioritise speed over the lowest cost.

Cubefunder does not specify an exact approval timeframe on its own site but describes its process as a quick and easy online application followed by a customised decision that blends technology with a human touch, as set out on the How it works page. The same page and the Apply page emphasise that only a short form is needed initially and that applicants will then speak with a member of the team. Third party intermediaries such as the Apt Payment overview of Cubefunder and Finder’s guide refer to funding being possible in hours or within a short period, but this is not standardised on Cubefunder’s own site, so real world speed varies.

Customer reviews for Cubefunder on Trustpilot and Smart Money People commonly praise the personal service and responsiveness of account managers, even where reviewers note that the cost is higher than alternatives. Funding Agent’s Cubefunder review reflects similar themes, describing Cubefunder as a relatively hands on lender compared with fully automated platforms.

Who each lender suits

From their own documentation and user feedback, clear patterns emerge about which types of businesses are best suited to Liberis and Cubefunder respectively.

Where Liberis fits best

• Card taking retailers and hospitality businesses, for example cafes, restaurants and shops, that process a high volume of card transactions and want funding closely tied to card revenue, as implied by examples on Explore Funding
• Businesses that value automatically flexible payments over having a fixed end date, such as seasonal operators whose takings fluctuate during the year
• SMEs that already work with Liberis’ partner platforms and therefore may see pre qualified offers without a lengthy separate application, according to Liberis’ embedded finance focus on About Us and its embedded funding articles

Eligibility specifics like minimum trading history, turnover and card revenue are set at partner level and are not fully standardised publicly, so exact requirements vary. Individual partner announcements, such as Liberis’ collaboration with Dojo detailed in its news item on Liberis and Dojo’s partnership, give indicative eligibility baselines, for example 12 months trading and £60,000 annual revenue for that specific programme, but these should not be generalised to all Liberis offers.

Where Cubefunder fits best

• Limited companies and some other business structures seeking short term working capital up to around £100,000, as indicated on the Cubefunder homepage and How it works
• Firms that receive revenue predominantly by bank transfer or invoice rather than card terminals, since Cubefunder collects via bank debits rather than card processor splits
• Businesses wanting the discipline of a predictable fixed term, usually 3 to 12 months for new customers as described in the FAQ, but still with some ability to renegotiate if cash flow becomes strained

Eligibility guidance on Cubefunder’s FAQ and external reviews like Swoop’s lender review indicates that Cubefunder generally looks for UK based businesses with a minimum trading period and demonstrable revenue through bank statements, but specific turnover or profit thresholds are assessed individually and therefore vary.

How to apply

Applying to Liberis

Because Liberis operates primarily via embedded finance partnerships, many applicants access offers directly in their payment processor or ecommerce dashboards. For those contacted by Liberis through a partner, the typical journey described in Liberis’ speed of funding article involves:

• Receiving a pre qualified or indicative offer based on transactional data
• Selecting a funding amount within a pre approved range
• Reviewing the total amount repayable and the revenue share percentage
• Completing a short application and consent form, often with minimal document uploads because the partner already provides sales data
• Receiving a decision and, if approved, signing a receivables purchase agreement

Applicants who come to Liberis outside a partner channel may be directed through a partner or broker, since Liberis does not typically run a direct to SME generic application form on its main site at the time of writing.

Applying to Cubefunder

Cubefunder provides a direct online application form on its Apply page. The process described on How it works includes:

• Completing a short online form with basic business details and funding needs
• Providing recent business bank statements, Cubefunder notes in a blog that at least three months of statements are typically requested, for example in its Fraud Finder partnership article on Fraud Finder
• Speaking with a member of the Cubefunder team to discuss the application, cash flow and repayment preferences
• Receiving an offer that sets out the advance amount, total repayable, repayment schedule and any required guarantees or security, if applicable
• Signing the agreement electronically and setting up direct debit for repayments

Cubefunder’s FAQ stresses that each loan is priced individually and that the underwriting team may adjust repayments to be daily or weekly depending on how the business receives income.

Final verdict

Both Liberis and Cubefunder occupy the flexible, revenue linked end of the SME funding market but pursue this through different legal and operational structures. Liberis focuses on receivables purchases via embedded card processing partnerships with automatically variable repayments, while Cubefunder provides short term fixed term loans that can be shaped around cash flow but are still conventional credit agreements regulated by the FCA. The better fit for a particular business depends less on headline marketing and more on how sales are taken, the need for term certainty and attitudes to regulatory protections.

Choose Liberis if:

• Your business takes most sales through card terminals or online payment processors that partner with Liberis
• You prefer repayments that automatically rise and fall with daily sales instead of a fixed instalment schedule
• You are comfortable with a purchase of receivables structure outside standard FCA consumer credit regulation and prioritise speed and flexibility over the lowest possible cost

Choose Cubefunder if:

• Your revenue is banked through invoices or bank transfers and you want funding repaid via direct debit over a defined short term
• You value having a clear end date and fixed total repayable, even if this means less automatic flexibility than a pure revenue share
• You want to work with a lender that is authorised and regulated by the FCA for its credit activities and offers direct customer support by phone and email

Sources

• Liberis official site and UK legal footer
• Liberis Explore Funding explainer
• Liberis Working Capital product page
• Liberis Starter Capital product page
• Liberis Pay with Liberis product page
• Liberis legal page
• Liberis complaints and customer feedback policy
• Liberis Trustpilot reviews
• Liberis Limited Companies House entry
• Liberis and Dojo partner announcement
• Liberis funding at the speed of business article
• Cubefunder official site
• Cubefunder How it works page
• Cubefunder FAQ
• Cubefunder website terms and conditions
• Cubefunder complaints process
• Cubefunder My Business Finance page
• Cubefunder Fraud Finder partnership blog
• Cubefunder Trustpilot reviews
• Cubefunder reviews on Smart Money People
• Swoop Funding Cubefunder lender review
• Finder UK Cubefunder business loans guide
• Funding Scoop best ecommerce business loan lenders article
• Funding Agent Liberis lender review
• Funding Agent Cubefunder lender review
• Funding Agent guide, what is a merchant cash advance