- Saible has raised £2.9 million to expand its platform to simultaneously route construction payments to suppliers.
- The raise lands as Parliament moves to ban retention payments and cap payment terms at 60 days.
- Saible is piloting the model on a public-sector footbridge project with the Environment Agency and BAM Nuttall.
Birmingham-based fintech Saible has raised £2.9 million, £2.1 million already secured, plus a further £800,000 extension, to expand a platform built to prevent construction payments from stalling as they move down the supply chain.
The startup’s technology, called a Digital Parallel Payment Account, routes project funds directly to every approved supplier at once, rather than letting money cascade slowly from the main contractor down to the smallest subcontractor.
“Late payment in construction goes beyond the balance sheet. It creates pressure that runs through businesses, workers and families. When firms are waiting months beyond agreed terms, people are left worrying about whether they can pay staff, suppliers, and themselves,” says Jarvey Moss, co-founder and chief executive of Saible.
Founded in 2023 by Moss, Saible was built on the idea that the problem in construction is how money moves. On a large project, funds can pass through four or five companies before reaching the people doing the work, and at each stage, a payment can be delayed or held back as free working capital for whoever is holding it.
Why is late payment hitting construction?
Late payments cost the UK economy an estimated £11 billion a year, according to the Department for Business and Trade. Recent research from accountancy firm Menzies found that 93% of construction and property firms report late payments, with invoices averaging 53 days overdue, and that 86% are already in, or at risk of, serious financial distress.
Construction has now recorded more insolvencies than any other UK sector for four years running: 4,450 firms failed in 2025, up nine per cent, with a further 1,180 collapsing in the first quarter of 2026 alone. When contractor ISG collapsed in 2024, it left more than £1.1 billion in unpaid debts, with hundreds of subcontractors never paid for completed work.
It’s not the only construction fintech chasing this problem. Tech Funding News recently covered London-based Prolo’s £4.2 million raise, which tackles the same cash-flow squeeze on the procurement side by offering contractors 90 days of credit rather than redesigning how project funds move. It reflects a broader shift among investors toward fixing how construction money moves, not just how projects are managed.
How the payment account works
Saible’s Digital Parallel Payment Account holds project funds in trust with the regulated banking partner, Griffin, releasing them to all approved suppliers simultaneously once work is verified, rather than moving funds from contractor to subcontractor in sequence. Project owners pay Saible a 0.25% fee; suppliers pay nothing.
The approach sets Saible apart from a crowded field of construction-payment software. Payapps, backed by Level Equity, streamlines subcontractor payment claims and invoicing. UK-based Causeway Technologies, backed by Five Arrows Principal Investments, offers cloud software spanning procurement and project controls. US firm Built Technologies has raised more than $270 million to digitise construction lending and draw management, while GCPay is expanding payment automation across North America.
Most of these platforms digitise invoicing or payment admin; Saible is trying to change how the money itself is distributed.
One of Saible’s investors is Phil Brown, founder and executive chair of rival Causeway Technologies. “Project Bank Accounts recognised the right problem, but they were never built to protect payments all the way down the supply chain. Saible is different because it gives clients and contractors a practical way to make sure money reaches the firms doing the work, not just the businesses at the top of the chain,” he says.
Legislation is coming, but Saible isn’t waiting on it
The funding arrives as Westminster moves forward with construction payment reform, adding to pressure already building from tighter public procurement rules and the Construction Playbook, both of which push construction clients to demonstrate that suppliers are paid fairly and on time.
The Commercial Payments Bill, introduced in May 2026 and now in its second reading in the House of Lords, would ban retention payments, cap payment terms at 60 days, and impose a mandatory interest rate of eight per cent above base rate on late payments. The bill won’t apply retrospectively, and the government has said there will be a transition period before it takes effect. Saible’s premise is that legislation alone won’t move the money on its own as someone still has to build the infrastructure to track, verify and actually distribute it.
It is not Saible’s first outing in front of an industry audience — Construction News has previously covered its technology model and the BAM Nuttall trial. But the premise is now being tested on a live, public-sector project. Saible is working with the Environment Agency and contractor BAM Nuttall on a pilot expected to be a £1.5 million to £2 million footbridge replacement project, running for 12 to 16 months from summer 2026. The pilot grew out of a Cabinet Office-sponsored review of construction payment problems and is intended to generate early evidence to inform wider public-sector payment reform.
Alongside the angel round, Saible is opening a limited £50,000 allocation on Crowdcube from July 15 to July 31, letting smaller construction businesses and industry participants invest alongside its existing angel backers. The new funding will go toward expanding the platform, supporting further public-sector pilots and taking Saible into more live projects, with its biggest test still ahead: proving that better infrastructure can succeed where legislation alone has not.
