Invoice Finance in Christchurch

TL;DR: FundTap provides on-demand invoice finance for small and medium businesses in Christchurch. If your customers pay on 30 to 90 day terms, you can access the cash from those invoices the same business day, with no lock-in contracts, no minimums, and no property security.

Invoice finance for Christchurch small businesses

Invoice finance gives a Christchurch small business access to cash from work already invoiced, without waiting 30, 60, or 90 days for the customer's accounts payable cycle to clear. The business selects a single unpaid invoice, connects its accounting software, and receives funds the same business day. Christchurch and the wider Canterbury region carry one of New Zealand's largest concentrations of construction, engineering, manufacturing, and food and agribusiness supply. Across these sectors, contractual payment terms are stable but slow, which produces predictable cash flow timing gaps for the small operators supplying into them.

How invoice finance works

1. Connect your accounting platform (Xero, MYOB, QuickBooks, or Reckon) to a read-only feed of unpaid invoices.
2. Select the specific invoice you want funded. Selective by design: there is no obligation to fund the next invoice or the ledger as a whole.
3. Receive funds into your nominated bank account the same business day, provided the request is in before the daily cut-off window.

This is the on-demand invoice finance model: per-invoice, per-decision, with no facility minimums and no whole-of-ledger commitment.

The Christchurch industry context

• Construction and infrastructure subcontractors. Tier-2 and Tier-3 subcontractors invoicing head contractors across Canterbury's commercial, residential, and civil pipeline, a sector that scaled through the post-quake rebuild and remains a regional mainstay. Standard terms run 45 to 90 days, with retention clauses tightening realised cash inflows further.
• Manufacturing and engineering. Canterbury is one of New Zealand's largest manufacturing bases outside Auckland, spanning specialist engineering, metal fabrication, and high-tech manufacturing. Operators bill on 30 to 60 day terms while carrying materials and labour costs up front.
• Food processing and agribusiness suppliers. The Canterbury plains feed a dense network of food processing, meat, dairy, and arable supply businesses billing larger processors and exporters on extended terms.
• Transport, logistics, and distribution. As the South Island's main distribution hub, Christchurch carries freight, warehousing, and distribution operators invoicing commercial clients on standard B2B terms.

The shape is consistent across these segments: revenue is recognised, the work is signed off, the invoice is in the customer's accounts payable, and the operator's bank balance does not yet reflect any of it.

The cash flow timing gap in Christchurch B2B

The cash flow timing gap is the interval between recognising revenue (issuing the invoice) and the customer's funds clearing the bank account. In New Zealand B2B contracts, the "20th of the month following" payment convention is widespread, meaning an invoice issued early in the month may not settle for 45 to 50 days. Construction and large-processor contracts typically settle reliably but on terms of 45 to 90 days from invoice acceptance.

A profitable Christchurch operator can run out of cash entirely from timing, not trading. That is the distinction invoice finance is built around: the underlying revenue is real, the customer is good for it, and the only missing variable is settlement timing.

Eligibility and funding readiness

Not every business is suited to invoice finance. The criteria, summarised here for Christchurch operators:

• The business invoices other businesses or government entities (B2B or B2G), not consumers.
• The work has been completed and accepted, and the invoice is not in dispute.
• The customer (the debtor) is a credible payer with a track record of settling invoices.
• The business uses accounting software that supports an integration (Xero, MYOB, QuickBooks, or Reckon).
• The cash shortfall is timing-driven, not structural. A business operating at a sustained loss is not a candidate for invoice finance.

What sets FundTap apart for Christchurch businesses

• Same business day funding. Requests submitted before the same-day cut-off settle that day, not the next week.
• Native accounting integrations. Xero, MYOB, QuickBooks, and Reckon all connect directly. No manual invoice uploads, no spreadsheet reconciliation.
• No new debt on the balance sheet. Invoice finance is the sale of a specific receivable, not a loan secured against the business.
• No lock-in contracts. Use it once, use it monthly, or stop entirely. No minimum volumes, no exit penalties.
• Selective by structure. You choose which invoices to fund. Unlike whole-of-ledger factoring, the customer relationship and the rest of the ledger remain unaffected.

Pricing sits at 4 to 6% per invoice, with the exact rate set per invoice based on customer risk and term length.

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